From Night to Day: A Novelization
by Tsume Ryu
Summary: Just another FF7 novel. C'mon, you know you want to read it! Promise to be less linear once we're out of midgar. Give it a chance, read and reveiw please.
1. Default Chapter

Hello, all! Tsume Ryu here and I have a few things to say before we get started. Firstly, I hope you all know what a novelization is. If not, I'm rewriting the game as a novel, instead of a visual medium. I wanted to do this because these are the characters I fell in love with, and I wanted to give them more depth than what they were given in the game. Also, those scenes that had bad translation irked me a bunch.  
  
Um, I'm not pursuing any pairing in the game besides the givens: Cloud's love triangle, Vincent and Lucrecia, a bit of Cid and Shera, but seriously, I am NEVER writing anything hinting at VincentxYuffie junk, so don't even try me! But in all honesty, I never liked those weird pairings people put together in fanfics.  
  
I do respond to direct emails from people, and I encourage you to write me. I love comments, but if there's something specific you'd like me to respond to, email me.  
Momo_The_mighty@yahoo.com  
  
Anything else?  
  
Cloud: I hate you. Ryu: Shut up, or I'll write you in a dress, sleeping with Sephiroth. Cloud: ...  
  
I don't own Cloud, or any of the characters in Final Fantasy 7, nor do I own FF7. I am writing this without permission, but I am not making money from it, so there.  
  
Ryu: I ownzors j00!! *glomp* Cloud: Augh!  
  
No seriously. Read! 


	2. Chapter 1: Night

At first there was darkness. Dense, unyeilding darkness. There was no definition of anything; it was as though time itself had never existed. Slowly, stars appeared, the way stars do. They twinkled to life, then they were followed by more, until the darkness looked like the night sky. From a divine silver to an earthly green the stars changed. The woman, aglow with the gaian stars, was beautiful, a true daughter of the planet. She looked young, but there was something ancient about her, with chestnut hair and neat bangs perfectly framing her face. Her most outstanding feature from a visual point were her eyes. The dark emerald depth had no limits, nor did they betray what was inside except gentility and kindness.  
  
Her body was slim and petite, still fresh with youth. She was dressed in a light pink skirt that fell to her ankles and added to her innocence. She appeared to be praying in a deserted alleyway, as the tiny green stars were lazily being blown out of a Mako vent. She looked up suddenly, as though she had been in a trance, and picked up a basket of delicate flowers that she had set beside her. Walking slowly, she came out of the alley and onto a street corner, where people bustled about in the bliss of normality. It wasn't light out, but she and everyone on the street knew that no matter what the time, it would always be eternally dark in the slums. The city on top of them, supported in sectors by pillars, blocked all sunlight and caused pollution underneath. This was the famous city, Midgar. She walked across the street and disappeared into the crowds. In the distance, a train roared by  
  
It sped quickly to reach its destination on time, like the train did every single day since the system went up. It screeched to a halt right on schedule at two forty-five in the morning. Two tired looking guards watched lazily as the train's doors opened. They realized something was amiss when a dark haired man leapt off the roof of the train and landed in front of him. He was very young, in his late teens, early twenties; and he was dressed in street rags consisting of a red shirt and gray pants. He swiftly grabbed the other man, flipped him over his head, it immediately knocked him unconscious. The other guard barely had time to yell when a girl the same age dressed in similar clothes also jumped from the train and kicked him the chest; knocking him out as well.  
  
Another man also jumped from the train. He was overweight, but looked like he had seen his share of battles. He was older than the last two but it was difficult to tell for sure since his clothes hid most of his features and a bright red bandanna concealed his hair. A second man hopped out of the train, he stood out from his three companions because of his size and aura of authority. He looked somewhere in his thirties and had dark skin. He wore a beat up brown sleeveless vest without a shirt underneath, revealing a few tattoos. He was also wearing drab pants and oversized boots that reinforced his large size. He waved his gun-arm up at a man who had just emerged on the roof from within the train.  
  
"C'mon! Newcomer!" His deep voice echoed, "Follow me!" His tone of voice suggested he had already been annoyed at the other man before their endeavors had even started.  
  
The new man jumped down as the first four ran around a corner, his spikey blond hair barely moving. No sooner had he taken a step, two security guards ran out in front of him and attacked. The first drew his gun quickly and aimed it at the nameless man. He didn't get a chance to fire his weapon because the blond intruder had slashed him across the chest with his huge sword. He was dead almost instantly. The second man fired, but only succeded in grazing the blonde man across his shoulder. The swordsman barely winced, and thrust the long, wide blade through the guard's torso.  
  
Not wasting a second, the blond man with the sword followed the direction the others had left. He caught up with them easily. The large man was nowhere to be seen, but the other three were struggling to break the security code on a door into the Mako Reactor. As he waited, the thinner of original three looked up at him. "Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER all right! Not everyday you find one in a group like AVALANCHE." He smiled.  
  
The girl looked up from her work, "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing with us in AVALANCE?"  
  
The man glanced at her and explained further, "Hold it, Jessie, he WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and is one of us." He turned back up to the unfamiliar man. "Didn't catch your name..."  
  
The blond man looked at him, and scowled, "...Cloud."  
  
He started to reply, happy in succeeding in making Cloud talk. "Cloud, eh? I'm-"  
  
"I don't care what your names are," Cloud snapped, "Once this job's over... I'm outta here."  
  
Suddenly the dark-skinned man ran around the corner. "The hell you all doin'!? I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it."  
  
Jessie broke through the code and went through with her two companions, leaving her leader and their hired assassin behind. "SOILDER, huh?" The big man growled, "I still don' trust ya."  
  
"Hey! Barett! Let's go!" The fat one yelled behind him. Barett scowled briefly at Cloud one last time before following his companions down the alley with ShinRa Headquarters looming over the skyline. Cloud shrugged, and raced after them.  
  
The sword-carrying warrior caught up with them in the ground level of Mako Reactor #1. He approached his employer and his crew suspiciously, as though they could be the enemy. Barett glared at him, and crossed his arms, "Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"  
  
Cloud put his gloved hands on his hips, "No. After all, I did work for the ShinRa, y'know."  
  
The larger man looked like he wanted to hurt him, but it was obvious that fighting their mercenary wouldn't be the best idea. "The planet's full of Mako energy. People here use it everyday. It's the life-blood of 'dis planet. But ShinRa keeps suckin' it out with these machines."  
  
"I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry." Cloud retorted.  
  
Barett snarled, "That's it! You're comin' with me from now on." He stormed through the opened door closest to him. Cloud ran followed him in, then Biggs and the girl, the fat one stayed out as a sentry. They jogged to the next doorway and Jesse glance back at her leader.  
  
"Biggs and I got the code for this door."  
  
"Code deciphered..." Biggs mumbled as the door slid open. "Think of how many of our people risked their lives, just for this code..."  
  
Jessie opened the next and absently muttered the same thing Biggs just had. "Code deciphered." They ran through the second door and work their way deeper into the reactor. Biggs stayed as a sentry when the makeshift renegades reached an elevator.  
  
"Push that button over there, Cloud." She directed absently. He obeyed her and hit a large yellow button with a symbol pointing upward. The elevator rumbled and began to move up. Barett leaned up against the side.  
  
"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life, and that'll be that." He said pointedly to Cloud.  
  
"It's not my problem."  
  
Barett stood up straight and waved his bulky gun-arm in the shorter man's face. "The planet's dyin', Cloud!!"  
  
He glared at Barett with intense blue eyes that seemed to glow. "The only thing I care about is finishing this job before security and the Roboguards come."  
  
The tall man growled and went back to the side and glared morosely at the far wall. The elevator soon stopped and the three of them ran down a couple of hallways and onto a catwalk. This time Jessie stayed behind.  
  
Barett and Cloud climbed down a metal ladder and carefully made their way across the final catwalk. Cloud had an easier time since he was smaller and quicker that the bulky Barett, but they both reached the outer core wall in no time. Barett studied the wall for a moment, "When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk." He growled with contempt at the complex equipment. "Cloud, you set the bomb."  
  
The other glanced at him curiously. "Shouldn't you do it?"  
  
Barett sighed, exasperated. "Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'." He crossed his arms smugly.  
  
Cloud shrugged. "Fine, be my guest. As Cloud approached it, a male voice rang through his head.  
  
"Watch out!" The voice warned, "This isn't just a reactor!"  
  
Cloud gripped his head in pain and sank to his knees. The voice was horribly familiar, but he couldn't fit it with a name. He came to his senses a second or two later, with Barett staring at him curiously. ".... What's wrong?"  
  
Cloud shook his head, "Huh?"  
  
"What's wrong, Cloud?" The other urged, "Hurry it up!"  
  
"Yeah, sorry." He took the small device from the hulking Barett and began attaching wires to the monitoring equipment attached to the wall. In no time, the ex-SOILDER had hooked up the bomb.  
  
"Done," he said, examining his handiwork. His companion was about to say something when an alarm suddenly flared up.  
  
"Here they come!" Barett yelled, loading his gun-arm. Cloud unsheathed his sword and waited. A tiny rumbling sounded down the far corridor. The two warriors tensed, past experiences glowing from their eyes. The noise grew louder and louder until the tiny rumbling became a screaming roar. Finally the ground-shattering noise became a Guard Scorpion, as it burst from the hallway.  
  
Although the beast was completely mechanical, it seemed to have a lifelike presence to it. It glared at the renegades for a moment before charging. Cloud agilely leapt out of the way while Barett clumsily rolled. Cloud clenched his teeth and pulled a tiny green orb from his pocket. As Barett unloaded bullets in the creature's underbelly, the spiky haired man carefully secured the sphere to a slot in his sword. As he concentrated, the sword glowed and burst into a glowing yellow light that quickly transformed into racing electrical currents that ran up and down the blade. Shouting a battle cry, the man charged the mechanical monster and sliced it across the chest.  
  
The monster seemed to squeal in pain as wires began to dangle and smoke was pouring out of the 'wound'. Barett, nearly consumed by the heat of battled, began to concentrate heavily. Slowly but surely, flecks of orange energy gathered at the end of his gun. The ball grew bigger and bigger, until he launched it at the scorpion. Cloud attacked one last time, and it completely gave way. The monster collapsed and twitched spastically.  
  
Before the two warriors could breathe a sigh of relief, another alarm sounded, along with a pre-recorded human voice on the bomb. "Six minutes until detonation..."  
  
"I thought you set it for ten minutes!" Barett exclaimed.  
  
"I did!" Was his response. "We don't have time to argue, let's get out of here, fast!"  
  
The other man nodded and began to run as best he could across the narrow little catwalk. By the time Cloud reached the ladder, Barett was already through the upper doorway. As he made his way up, he heard a female voice cry out. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Jessie being attacked by a Roboguard.  
  
Without thinking, Cloud performed and agile backflip off the ladder while at the same time drawing his sword. He landed with a loud 'whump' on top of the elite security officer and in one neat movement, he thrust the wide blade into the other man.  
  
Helping the frightened young woman, he noticed that her foot was caught in the support they were standing on. Yanking her foot out, they both took off down the hall. "Thanks!" She managed to shout to him.  
  
They reached the bridge across a great abyss and yet another low rumbling was heard. Cloud watched as Barett, Biggs, and the fat one ran out on the left side.  
  
Running at full force, Cloud and Jesse turned the corner. Jessie slipped and fell, skidding almost over the side of the unstable bridge. She panicked and began clawing at the floor to make it back up. The Ex-SOILDER roughly grabbed her wrist and wrapped an unnaturally strong arm around her waist as he sprinted away. The heat inside was rising rapidly. As soon as he made it to the doorway, the reactor exploded, sending a wall of flames outward.  
  
The explosion rocked the entire city and threw Barett and his companions to their knees. The smell of Mako and melting metal was immediately present. Cloud followed Barett and the others into a small hallway that was covered in graffiti. The exit was blocked with debris. Biggs looked to his friends and smiled. "That should keep the planet going... at least a little while."  
  
The fat one smiled grimly. "Yeah." Barett stared at them for a moment. His teammates nodded and Jessie began to hook up another bomb to the wall. She set it and backed up,  
  
"Okay! Now everyone get back." The rebels stand back as the wall is blown to bits and the five escaped through the flames. They made it through unscathed, save for the fact that the seat of the fat man's pants were on fire.  
  
After he put the flames out, Barett gathered his three buddies and the lone mercenary for a post-mission briefing. "All right, now. Let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train".  
  
"H-hey! Cloud started.  
  
"If it's 'bout the money, save it till we're back at the hideout." With that, Barett climbed a nearby stairway and was gone. Wedge took off in the opposite direction, with the other two trailing him. Cloud sighed, aggravated at Barett. He had only known him for a day or so, but he constantly grated on the younger man's nerves. He absently followed the direction in which the other three had gone.  
  
Following the corridor he came out in a plaza littered with debris from the massive explosion that had just happened. Cloud watched emotionlessly as people ran by in terror, wondering what had caused the mammoth explosion. As he approached a destroyed fountain he saw a girl that stood out from anyone he had ever seen.  
  
She was shorter that he was, but only by about four inches and she looked his age. He felt drawn to her and compelled to help her to her feet, as a panicked passerby had bumped into her. She looked up at him with deep, glittering green eyes and thanked him. "Excuse me. What happened?" She asked him.  
  
He hesitated before answering. "Nothing... hey, don't see many flowers around here." He observed, indicating to her basket.  
  
"Oh, these? Do you like them? There only a Gil..." she offered. Cloud thought for a moment and dug up a coin from his pocket and handed it to her. She smiled widely and handed him a small delicate orange flower. He thanked her as she made off down the street. Taking one last look at the fascinating stranger, he jogged down to the other end of the avenue.  
  
He was nearly at the train station and coming out of an alley, when two ShinRa guards ran up behind him. "Hey! You there!" they yelled.  
  
"ShinRa soldiers..." he spat. Cloud dashed ahead of him and veered right- directly into two more guards who had their rifles aimed at his chest. Turning around, he made a break for the last alley. Two more guards stepped in front of him as the last four closed him into the side of a bridge overlooking train tracks.  
  
All six guards trained their rifles at his head. One of them spoke through his blue helmet. "That's as far as you go."  
  
"I don't have time to be messing around with you guys!" Cloud growled, frustrated.  
  
"Enough babbling! Grab him!" One of the others yelled.  
  
Cloud jumped up on the railing and drew his sword. As a train horn blared in the distance, an idea came to him. He held out his hand, concentrating on the orb attached to his sword, and a twisted tree of lightning crashed into the ground before the soldiers. Startled they watched, speechless, as the strange man turned and jumped just as a train roared out of the tunnel. He landed smoothly on the roof and ducked as he and the train dropped underground.  
  
Barett, Wedge, Jessie, and Biggs all sulked in the cargo area of the train. "Cloud never came." Wedge sighed in despair.  
  
"Cloud..." Biggs thought out loud. "I wonder if he was killed."  
  
Barett shook his head, "No way!!"  
  
Jessie looked sadly at the train wall. "Cloud..."  
  
They looked up suddenly as a loud thumping was heard on the side of the car. After a tense second or two, they looked back down again.  
  
"Say," Biggs asked, "Do you think Cloud's going to fight to the end for AVALANCHE?"  
  
Barett sighed impatiently, "The hell would I know! Do I look like a mind- reader?" He emphasized his statement by pounding a heavy fist into a wooden crate. "Hmph. If y'all weren't such screw-ups..."  
  
Wedge looked at his boss for a moment. "Hey Barett! What about our money...?" The larger man slammed his fist on the crate again, startling the room's occupants. "Uh... nothin'.... Sorry." He added hastily with a sigh of relief. The pounding sounded again and this time, the door to the outside world was flung open. A figure flipped in.  
  
"Cloud!!" The trio yelled.  
  
"Looks like I'm a little late."  
  
"You damn right, you're late!! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!" Barett fumed.  
  
"It's no big deal," Cloud answered cockily, shrugging his shoulders. "Just what I always do."  
  
"Shit! Havin' everyone worried 'bout you like that; you don' give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!" Barett's enunciation grew more sloppy when he was angry.  
  
The younger smirked, "Hmm... You were worried about me?"  
  
"Wha-?" Barett clenched his fist, and then pointedly aimed his gun-arm at the younger man. "It's comin' outta your money, hot stuff." There was a tense silence. "Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!"  
  
They watched as the disgruntled man left the car and headed out. Wedge heartily clapped Cloud on the back. "Hey Cloud! You were great back there." He smiled warmly, while the other glanced at him a bit oddly.  
  
Biggs jogged up next to him and pumped a fist in the air, "Heh heh... Cloud! We'll do even better next time." Wedge and his younger counterpart left, leaving Jessie and Cloud.  
  
She walked up to him, closing the door, and smiled. "Oh, Cloud! Your face is pitch black!" She untied her headband and wiped Cloud's cheeks with it, taking off some of the dirt and soot that had caked onto his handsome face.  
  
"There you go!" she smiled "Say, thanks for helping me back there at the reactor!" Blushing and grinning at him with girlish admiration, she followed Biggs and Wedge out. Cloud took a moment to make sure he still had everything he had originally left with and followed the members of AVALANCHE out.  
  
He and the others emerged in an empty guest car, save for a man in a business suit. Barett flopped down next to him and the smaller, meeker man got up and nervously began to exit. "This is why I hate the last train." He muttered darkly. "Hoo-boy..."  
  
The train's intercom system suddenly blared to life. "Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23 AM, Midgar standard time."  
  
Cloud sauntered over to his employer; the two had a bit of a staring contest before Barett rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down an' shu'up." Cloud turned moodily and made his way over to Wedge and Biggs who, yet again, smiled up at him. "Someday," Wedge began, "AVALANCHE's gonna be famous...and me too!"  
  
Biggs shook his head, smirking sadly. "It seems this train hasn't switched to security mode yet. I'm sure that'll change by tomorrow."  
  
"Hey Cloud!" Jessie beckoned from in front of a monitor. "You want to look at this with me?" Cloud nodded, and walked up to her and the glowing monitor. "It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you." She seemed to beam with happiness at the Ex- SOLDIER's choice to join her. "I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and monitors... you know, flashy stuff."  
  
The two rebels looked at the monitor as a green ShinRa logo appeared. "Okay it's about to start." Jessie said in anticipation. A wire frame model of Midgar was depicted on the aging screen. The girl continued. "This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. It's about 1/1000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section." She lowered her voice to a whisper; "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." She spoke normally again as she continued with her lecture. "Then there's No. 2, No. 3, all the way up to No. 8 Reactor. The eight reactors provide Midgar with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is." She offered a grim smile. The model of Midgar now showed a dotted line that spiraled up through the city.  
  
"This is the route the train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and ever passenger on the train by linking it up to the central databank at ShinRa Headquarters." She lowered her voice again. "Anyone can tell we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's."  
  
Suddenly, a red light started flashing. "Speak of the devil..." Jessie muttered, "That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area. When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out... Anyhow, were almost back now. That's a relief."  
  
Cloud thanked her explanation of the city, but her only response was her furious blushing. The hired mercenary walked back over to Barett. "Look..." He directed, too engrossed in the scenery to argue with the younger man. "You can see the surface now. This city don't have no night or no day. If that plate weren't there, we could see the sky."  
  
Cloud nodded his agreement. "A floating city... Pretty unsettling scenery." Barett looked up at him, his dark eyes holding back old pain. He stood up, and smiled smugly.  
  
"Never expected to hear that outta someone like you... You jes' full of surprises." Cloud glared indignantly at him, but the other continued anyway. "The upper world... a city on a plate... It's cuz of that fucking 'pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the reactors keep drainin' up all the energy."  
  
The mercenary nodded, reluctantly understanding. "Then why doesn't everyone move onto the plate?"  
  
Barett shook his head sadly. "Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or maybe... cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."  
  
"I know," Cloud agreed solemnly, "No one lives in the slums because they want to." He paused, staring hypnotically out the window, "It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where the rails take it. 


	3. Chapter 2: Starlit Promises

The train screeched to a stop and the small rebel band exited. Barett rallied his group to the rear of the station, "Yo!! Get over here, all' ya!!" Within a few seconds, the original group and the added mercenary had gathered around him. "This mission was a success. But don't get lazy now. The hard part's still to come! Don't y'all be scared of that explosion! Cause the next one's gonna be bigger than that! Meet back at the hideout!! Move out!"  
  
They left, once again splitting up in different directions. Cloud ran along the twisting alleyways, the dank air invading his senses. As he passed the gargantuan support pillar that held up a part of the upper plate, he stopped and looked all the way up. The support was sturdy, but if something were to ever happen, and the pillar failed, everything in Sector 7 would be obliterated. Wondering where the intruding thought had come from, her made his way to the bar where the mission had originally began.  
  
Suddenly, Barett's obnoxscious voice cut through the night air. "Yo. Cloud! Over here, now!" Cloud saw him on the deck of a rickity little building. It was the Seventh Heaven, a bar run by his childhood friend, Tifa Lockheart. Barett ran in, and chased all the patrons out. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie went inside nodding to him.  
  
"Ok! Go on ahead." He shouted to Cloud.  
  
As the hired mercenary opened the door, a girl of about six jumped up. "Papa!" She shouted. Realizing that she had mistaken Cloud for her father, she ran and hid in the corner, sad and embarassed. The owner of the bar, Tifa, went and consoled the girl.  
  
"Marlene! Aren't you going to say anything to Cloud?"  
  
Tifa smiled, sadly and walked over to her friend. "Welcome home, Cloud. Looks like everything went well. Did you fight with Barret?"  
  
Cloud nodded a bit sheepishly, "Yeah."  
  
Tifa nodded, smirking a bit knowingly, "I should have known. He's always pushing people around, and you've always been in fights ever since you were little. I was worried." She glanced down and noticed the orange flower poking out of his pocket. "Flowers? How nice... You almost never see them here in the slums. But... A flower for me? Oh Cloud, you shouldn't have..."  
  
"No big." He shrugged, not wanting to seem to eager  
  
"Thank you, Cloud. It smells wonderful." She turned and looked at the rest of the shabby bar. "Maybe I should fill the store with flowers."  
  
As he turned to exit, Barret nearly brought the little shop down when he crashed inside.  
  
"Papa, welcome home!" The little girl shouted, the large man softened considerably and lifted her up onto his broad shoulders.  
  
Tifa looked over to him questioningly,"You all right, Barret?"  
  
"Great!!" He emphazied his statement by pumping his thick fist into the air. He walked to a dusty pinball machine in the corner and brought his hand crashing down on it. It whirred noisily and the platform it was resting on began to descend. "Get in here, fools!!" He shouted to Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. "We're startin' the meetin'!!"  
  
Soon, Cloud and Tifa were left alone, as the rebel faction discussed today's mission. She beckoned to him, "Sit down." He offered her a tight smile and sat down at a bar stool. "How about ...something to drink?" she smiled, yet again.  
  
Cloud thought a moment before responding, half jokingly, "Give me something hard."  
  
"Just a minute. I'll make one for you." After a few seconds, she handed him a drink, and he took a small sip, and decided he liked it.  
  
"You know, I'm relieved you made it back safely."  
  
He looked up at her, a mixture of concern and slight annoyance on his face, "What's with you all of a sudden? That wasn't even a tough job."  
  
She looked down at her feet awkwardly, "I guess not...You were in SOLDIER." She paused a moment before adding, "Make sure you get your pay from Barett."  
  
He glared morosely at the spotless countertop, "Don't worry. Once I get that money, I'm outta here."  
  
He stood up and streched for a second before making his way toward the pinball machine.  
  
"Cloud, are you feeling all right?" She pressed again.  
  
"...Yeah... Why?"  
  
"No reason. You just look a little tired I guess. You'd better go down below."  
  
He smacked the rusty game, like Barett had, and sure enough, the elevator began to descend. Apparently the meeting was over, since they had begun to do their own work. Barett was wailing away at a punching bag; Marlene watching intently from a nearby stack of crates. Jessie was working on a computer, while Biggs and Wedge carried on a conversation.  
  
As he passed Jessie, she squealed in surprise, "Hey, look at the news... What a blast. Think it was all because of my bomb? But all I really did was just make it like the computer told me."  
  
As he walked over to his employer in hopes for his pay, the other man turned to him first. "Yo. Cloud! There's somethin' I wanna ask ya...Was there anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today?"  
  
He shook his head. "None. I'm positive."  
  
"You sound pretty sure." Barett eyed him suspiciously.  
  
"If there was anyone from SOLDIER you wouldn't be standing here now."  
  
"Don't go thinkin' you so bad jes cuz you was in SOLDIER." He immeadiatly sensed the slight raise of annoyance and attitude in the younger man's voice and got deffensive.  
  
The other was silent for a minute, as was everyone else in the room. Barett continued his verbal onslaught "Yeah, you're strong." He began smugly, "Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are, but don't forget your skinny ass's working for AVALANCHE now! Don't get no ideas 'bout hangin' on to Shinra."  
  
Cloud looked up, furious at the bigger man's last comment. "Staying with ShinRa?" he yelled, "You asked me a question and I answered it... that's all." He thought of the one subject that would anger Barett the most right now, "I'm going upstairs. I want to talk about my money."  
  
"Shit!! ...money...."  
  
Marlene smiled from her perch on the crates, "Papa. you're so great!"  
  
Cloud got on the elevator was about to leave when Tifa approached him. He was startled momentarily, and began to walking toward the door anyway.  
  
"Wait, Cloud!" She called softly.  
  
Barett came up the elevator as well, "Tifa! Let him go!" he barked, crossing his arms. "Looks like he still misses the Shinra!"  
  
Cloud whirled around "Shut up! I don't care about either Shinra or SOLDIER! But don't get me wrong! I don't care about AVALANCHE or the Planet for that matter!"  
  
Barett threw his hands up in frustration, and went back downstairs. Tifa looked at him worriedly. "Straighten things up with everyone for me." She knew it was pointless, but she felt she needed to say something. She was about to continue when a news flash came up on the TV in the back of the room, showing none other than the overweight President ShinRa himself.  
  
"......today the No.1 Reactor was bombed. The terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for the bombing. It is expected that AVALANCHE will continue its reign of terror. But citizens of Midgar.... there is no need to fear. I have immediately mobilized SOLDIER to protect our citizenry against this senseless violence. Thank you and good night."  
Top of Form  
Bottom of Form  
  
Cloud rode up the rickety pinball machine to the bar on top. He made it to the door, but the creaking of the elevator prompted him to turn around. It was Tifa. He felt his anger and resolve soften as he looked on her. He loved her very much, but in his heart he knew that she deserved much better than him. He was lucky enough that he was her best friend, he reminded himself yet again.  
  
She looked at him pleadingly. "Listen, Cloud. I'm asking you, please join us."  
  
He shook his head, "Sorry, Tifa..."  
  
"The Planet is dying. Slowly but surely it's dying. Someone has to do something." She wanted him to stay so badly, but it wasn't looking good.  
  
He turned his back to her, "So let Barett and his buddies do something about it." He grumbled, "It's got nothin' to do with me." He reached for the doorknob.  
  
"So!" Tifa huffed, "You're really leaving!? You're just going to walk right out, ignoring your childhood friend!?"  
  
Cloud turned toward her again, stung by her words. "What..." He stammered, his mind gone blank. "...Sorry."  
  
"...You forgot the promise, too." She added, almost inaudible.  
  
He searched his memory for a minute, and couldn't seem to recall what she was talking about. "Promise?" He asked, hating how stupid he sounded.  
  
She looked down at her feet, either disappointed or embarrassed, he couldn't tell which. "So you DID forget." He suddenly felt awful for letting her down. "Remember...Cloud. It was seven years ago."  
  
A rush of memories came flooding his mind. Why couldn't he recall it a moment ago? He remembered the well and the starlit sky that night.  
  
"Do you remember the well?"  
  
"Yeah... back then." He murmured distantly, "I thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold."  
  
He vividly recalled sitting on the old well in the middle of the town square. He remembered waiting for Tifa, and the brisk autumn air. He was only fourteen then, before his involvement with the ShinRa and now AVALANCHE.  
  
He went over every detail of that night. How it had taken her a while to reach him. "Sorry I'm late." She had said to him. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" He remembered the long and awkward pause between them.  
  
He also recalled searching for the perfect words to tell her of his plan. "Come this spring..." He had begun, "I'm leaving this town for Midgar."  
  
She had nodded sadly and paused again before she responded. "... All boys are leaving town."  
  
"But I'm different from all of them." He had almost yelled. "I'm not just going to find a job." Then he remembered blurting out his idea to her; the one he could trust. "I want to join SOLDIER. I want to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth."  
  
Cloud's blood boiled even at the slightest thought of that man's name. Suppressing his anger, he continued searching through his memories.  
  
"Sephiroth.... The Great Sephiroth." Tifa had murmured in quiet awe. He remembered standing up and climbing to the top of the well and gazing up at the star-filled sky. Tifa continued with her previous thought. "Isn't it hard to join SOLDIER."  
  
He recalled avoiding a direct answer. "...I probably won't be able to come back to this town for a while." He had heard Tifa moving and thought for a second that she might leave. "...huh?"  
  
She didn't get up and he couldn't exactly recall her words but it was something along the lines of: "Will you be in the newspapers if you do well?"  
  
He had nodded, mostly to reassure himself. "I'll try."  
  
She had looked up at him with shy amber eyes, "Hey, why don't we make a promise? If you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind..." She paused for a moment. "you come save me, all right?"  
  
He recalled his disbelief. "What?"  
  
"Come on--! Promise me----!" She had pressed.  
  
Cloud nodded, "All right... I promise."  
  
That was it. He remembered with a frown how naïve he had been then and what a loser he was now. Tifa looked up at him curiously. "You remember now? Our promise?"  
  
Cloud felt like a complete failure. He didn't understand why she wanted to rely on him so much. It made his stomach twist.. "I'm not a hero and I'm famous. I can't keep... the promise."  
  
"But you got your childhood dream didn't you? You joined SOLDIER..." Cloud looked down at his booted feet, he wasn't sure what to do. "So come on! You've got to keep your promise."  
  
Suddenly a strange noise came from the elevator. Barett was clambering up the side of it. "Wait a sec, big-time SOLDIER." He snorted, "A promise is a promise! Here." He tossed a small bag to Cloud that contained his pay. "Fifteen hundred Gil."  
  
Cloud caught the small bag and frowned. "This is my pay? Don't make me laugh."  
  
Tifa looked at him in shock. "What? Then you'll...!!"  
  
He tried to act as cocky as he could as he looked smugly to Barett. "You got the next mission lined up? I'll do it for three-thousand."  
  
Barett looked stunned, "What...!?"  
  
She dragged him to the corner of the room before he had a chance to explode at the younger man. "It's ok. It's ok." She whispered, "We're really hurting for help, right?"  
  
"Uh...ugh...That's money for Marlene's schoolin!" He hissed back. He thought for a moment before he turned back to the annoying brat. "Two thousand!"  
  
Cloud nodded as Tifa came to his side and grinned brightly. "Thanks, Cloud."  
  
Bottom of Form 


	4. Chapter 3: Vermin

The next morning, Cloud awoke to Tifa lightly tapping his shoulder. "It's almost time. How'd you sleep?" He mumbled unintellibly, and stretched. "I'm going with you both this time." As Cloud blinked the sleep out of his eyes, he noticed that Tifa was dressed for the occasion. She wore a white cropped t-shirt, a short skirt, and metal plated boots and gloves. Although her appereance made her very attractive, Cloud knew that behind Tifa's seemingly weak looks, she was an extremely apt martial artist, and was very capable of taking care of herself.  
  
Barett sauntered around the corner, already dressed and armed to the teeth. "Our target's the Sector 5 Reactor. Head for the station first, and I'll fill you in on the train." He looked at his gun-arm and focused on fiddling with if for a few minutes.  
  
As Cloud got dressed himself, Barett looked up with a sudden thought. "Yo, Cloud!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Before the next mission, I gots to ask you somethin'." The big man stopped tuning his gun. "I don't know how to use materia, I'll let you keep the one we found yesterday, but teach me how to use it."  
  
Just to annoy Barett, Cloud sighed, exasperated. "Okay. Its not too tough." He pulled out his sword and green sphere of materia. "You know about the different kinds right? Colors and uses and stuff?"  
  
Barett answered him with a blank look.  
  
Smirking slightly, the young man held his green one to the light. "This is magic material, and the concentration of Mako makes it green. Just like with the other kinds, different levels of Mako make it different colors. "There are _ types of materia. Green, like this one." He handed Barett the small sphere. "Also, there's blue, yellow, red, and purple. The blue materia is the weakest kind alone, but it can act like an amplifier and it makes other materia stronger. Yellow materia actually makes you faster and smarter, making it easyier to use stronger techniques in battle. Red allows you to summon one of the Gods' avatars in battle. Purple changes the environment around you."  
  
"What do mean environment?" The dark-skinned man asked, still looking confused. "Does it change the weather, or, like the plants an' stuff?"  
  
The young mercenary was loving this, Barett was completely at his mercy. "No, not like that." He noted with smug satisfaction that the other man seemed disappointed. "They alter things about you... Like, there's one that repels monsters, one that attracts them, and even one that attracts chocobos."  
  
Barett scratched his head, and Tifa, behind him, could barely suppress a giggle. "So how do you use it?"  
  
"Concentration."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"Yeah, basically." Cloud held out his hand, and small flame flickered to life. "The more you use it the better you get at controlling it. Instead of just creating fire, you could shoot it at someone, or you could even shield yourself with it." Cloud's hand turned, and the small burst of fire elongated and it swirled over his hand and arm, looking like a red ribbon floating above his flesh. "Materia can also make you weaker, though, so be careful. It can slow down your recovery from an injury, and even make you more susceptible to pain."  
  
"Shit!" the bigger man swore, "What's this 'it's not tough' crap?"  
  
"The only tricky thing about it is what to equip it to."  
  
"What do you mean?" Tifa prompted from the corner table, where she had been sitting quietly the whole time.  
  
Happy to be able to impress her, Cloud hefted his sword, and placed the fire material into one of the small slots. "If you leave a material on your weapon long enough, your weapon will start to adopt the attributes of the materia. Right now, this fire materia has been on my sword for a good while, that means my sword would be twice as effective on an ice monster, than a fire one. It also makes it easier to do magic attacks through a weapon." To demonstrate, Cloud held his sword at a ready position. The blade ignited in a glowing rage. Fire lapped up the sides of the smooth steel, and seemed eager to cut into flesh. "It works the same way for armor, too. Equip certain kinds long enough, and an ice spell could actually heal you."  
  
"I think I'm more lost than before." Barett sighed. "Oh well, you handle it." Tifa and Cloud both chuckled.  
  
After a light breakfast, Cloud left the Seventh Heaven and walked out into the dark morning. He crossed the way to an old shop and decided he had a little time before he would have to be at the station. Opening the door, the blond man glanced at the heavy weaponry hung around the room. He walked up to the counter and hit the service bell. A man in need of a shower sauntered out of a doorway and glared at him supisciously. "Never seen you around here..." The man said, eyeing him.  
  
"I know." Cloud avoided the subject. "Do you sell materia here?"  
  
"People don't usually take vacations in the slums... Yeah, we got materia." He pulled out a small box and opened it. Cloud began picking through it.  
  
"How long would it take you to sharpen my sword?" he asked absently, picking through the meager selection of Materia.  
  
"Coupla' minutes, it'll cost you eight hundred."  
  
Cloud waved a dismissive hand, and unsheathed his sword and handed it to the dirty little man. He picked it up and winced at attempting to carry its full weight on his own. Sticking the blade in an oversized machine, he counted the money the other man had paid with.  
  
The spikey haired stranger showed the man the materia he had picked out, and the shopkeeper nodded. "Six-fifty."  
  
Cloud cocked a blond eyebrow, "For this crap? There are two Cures and an Ice!"  
  
"We live in the slums, you stupid outsider!" the man screeched, "I need all the money I can get! You'd be lucky if I didn't shoot you-" He pulled out a handgun from underneath the counter, "-and stole your money and that sword!"  
  
Cloud narrowed his eyes dangerously. He had hoped someone would mess with him. Ever since he went on the first mission with Barett, he'd wanted to take his annoyance and frustration out on something. Now he had this stupid little bum wanting to pick a fight with an ex-SOLDIER, and a First Class one at that. He doubted the man was much of a match for him, even with a gun. Suddenly, a blaring noise erupted from the machine his sword was stuck in, letting them know that it was done. He walked behind the counter and pulled the sturdy sword out of the machine.  
  
The shopkeeper still had his handgun trained on the stranger, but he didn't seem to notice. Cloud swung the heavy sword in a few experimental swipes, and suddenly brought the wide blade crashing down on his adversary's gun.  
  
The shopkeeper looked at the other in disbelief. The barrel of the gun had been split in two. The strange man left without another word.  
  
Feeling smug and cocky as ever, Cloud trotted up to the train station, and the rest of AVALANCHE was waiting out in front. Barett nodded to him and signaled for everyone to board the ShinRa DOT vehicle. As they made there way into the passenger car the huge man noticed that they were not alone. In the corner, there was a man in a business suit, obviously in his way to work, which was more than likely the ShinRa Headquarters.  
  
Barett's loud voice barked to his crew behind him. "YO! Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!"  
  
The well-dressed man in the corner, looked nervously at his feet. "...Hoodlums again. God, don't I just have all the luck..."  
  
Barett flopped down on the seat and watched as Cloud walked up to him. "So, what are we going to do now?" The mercenary asked.  
  
The bigger man broke into an annoyed frown. "Shit! The hell you so calm about? You bustin up my rhythm."  
  
Tifa looked up as the train finally started to pull out of the station. "Seems like they just finished connecting the cars. We're finally leaving."  
  
Cloud nodded and looked back to Barett. "So what's our next target?"  
  
He smiled, and crossed his arms smugly. "Ha! Listen to Mr. Serious-about- his-work! Awright..... I'll tell ya!" He grinned wider when an aggravated look slowly spread across Cloud's still-boyish features. "Jessie's probably already told you, but there's a security check point at the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all the trains."  
  
Tifa interrupted, "Which ShinRa is very proud of."  
  
The other continued, "We can't use our fake ID's anymore-" He was cut off again when the train intercom system blared to life.  
  
"Good morning, and welcome to Midgar Lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45am."  
  
Tifa glanced at her watch. "That means we've only got three more minutes to the ID checkpoint."  
  
Barett nodded. "Alright. In three minutes we're jumpin' off this train. Got it?" He sat back down as Tifa wandered over to the mapping monitor, and beckoned Cloud to follow.  
  
"Cloud, come over here! Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor."  
  
She smiled brightly when he came over. "Hmm, it looks like you've already seen this," She said, "It's all right, come a little closer."  
  
As the two began to look at the monitor, a brilliant red light flashed to life. "That's odd," She shouted over the commotion. "The ID Checkpoint was supposed to be further down!"  
  
The intercom sprang to life again. "Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed... A search of all cars will be conducted! Repeat! Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed... A search of all cars will be conducted!"  
  
"What's goin' on?" Barett boomed as a panic-stricken Jessie raced in.  
  
"We're in trouble," She panted, "I'll explain later. Hurry! Get into the next car!"  
  
Barett swore violently, "Fuck!! Someone blew it..."  
  
"Unidentified passengers located in car number one. Preparing for lockdown."  
  
"Let's go!" Barett waved his gun-arm. "Keep it up!"  
  
The three of them rushed into the next car, and right into Biggs. "Hurry!" he panted.  
  
"Car #1 locked down. Upgrading to Level 2 warning."  
  
Wedge raced up behind Barett, and continued for the door to the next car. "They're gonna lock the door!"  
  
"Unidentified Passengers located in Car #2. Preparing for lockdown."  
  
"Just run!" Jessie yelled in a panic behind them. "Change to plan two!" Cloud took a second to feel the utter pandemonium that grew thick around him as he ran blindly into the next car.  
  
Just as they set foot inside, the intercom buzzed to life again. "Car 2 locked down. Upgrading to Warning Level 3." Suddenly, the flashing red light died off, much to the relief of the Ex-SOLDIER.  
  
Barett sighed in relief, "Awright! We clear!?"  
  
Jessie shook her head, "Not yet. They're starting another search. If we're caught, we're done for!" She looked up, trying to be a bit optemistic. "But don't worry. If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it."  
  
As she raced off to the next car, the annoying red lights began to flash again, and the intercom decided to speak, "Unidentified passengers moving to front of train. Currently tracking location."  
  
AVALANCHE finally made it to the fourth and final car, much to their relief. "All right!" Barett shouted, "We made it. This way!" He heaved open the door on the side, his dark muscles straining. The howling wind was deafening, and the train seemed to be going extremely fast. "Let's go! We're gonna get out of here!! Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, I want you to stay on the train, and follow through with the original plan!"  
  
Tifa cautiously glanced out the door, the force of the wind blowing her thick brown ponytail. She looked back to Cloud, "Scary...huh?"  
  
Cloud smiled a bit, "Too late to be saying that now. Why'd you come along anyway?"  
  
She turned her head sadly, "Because..."  
  
Barett glared back at them, "Hey you two! There ain't no time for that!"  
  
Tifa nodded and pumped a gloved fist into the air. "Yeah!! I've made up my mind. Watch closely, I'm gonna jump!" Before Cloud could really worry about her safety, she had already leapt from the train and was gone from sight. He shook his head, clearing out whatever fear may already be there, and looked over his shoulder to the leader of AVALANCHE.  
  
"You don't care if I go first?"  
  
The other waved a dissmisive hand. "A leader always stays to the end! Don't worry, just go!" Cloud nodded and jumped from the speeding train.  
  
Barett glanced back at his original members. "Later! You take care of the rest!" With that he ran forward and launched from the train.  
  
Tifa landed with a deafening thud, and rolled right into the concrete wall. After a few moments, she pulled herself to her knees and examined the minor cuts and bruises that resulted from her daring leap from the speeding train. She stood up shakily, and fixed her long ponytail as she jogged down the tunnel in hopes of finding Cloud and Barett. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. The mission had barely begun and things had already taken a turn for the worse.  
  
As she rounded a bend in the tunnel, she came across the form of Cloud, sprawled awkwardly across the hard cement floor. She ran to his side as he sat up. He groggily shook his head, blond spikes waving with him. "Damn..." He smiled weakly at her. "Are you alright?"  
  
She nodded, glad that he didn't get hurt. "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you stand? We gotta find Barett." He pulled himself sorely to his feet, and walked next to her. They only walked for a few minutes before they came across Barett. He was sitting, but propped up against the wall, tending to a nasty looking gash on his left shoulder. When he saw the two, he stood up and winced a bit.  
  
"Good, so far everything's going as planned." He said, mostly to himself. Cloud answered his statement with a roll of his deep blue eyes, but Barett continued anyway. "Better not let your guard down till we get to the Sector 5 reactor. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie got everything ready for us, so move it. The reactor's just down this tunnel."  
  
The trio walked for what seemed like hours. They turned a corner and into a dead end; there were security lasers stretched across the hallway. Cloud let out a loud annoyed sigh and shook his head. "Those light beams are the ShinRa's security sensors. We can't go any further."  
  
Tifa glanced to her right, and caught sight of a ventilation duct. "Could we get through that vent?"  
  
Barett put his hands on hips. "That's one damn tiny hole." He eyed it skeptically, "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No way!" He turned to the Ex-SOLDIER expectantly. "Yo, Cloud, what're we gonna do?"  
  
He leaned forward and searched thoroughly for something that might trap them. Tifa followed his gaze, "There seems to be nothing that'll get us stuck in there."  
  
Cloud nodded in agreement, "Yeah. But if we go down there, we won't be able to come back up."  
  
Barett growled, impatient as ever. "Don't be wastin' time. Never know when the ShinRa'll find us. Cloud, you jes' gotta go."  
  
The shorter man shrugged, and backed down into the little duct, followed by Tifa. He could vaguely hear Barett swear a bit as he attempted to stuff his bulk into the shaft. "But, damn man, this thing gives me the chills..."  
  
They made their way through a series of ducts and finally into the Reactor. Since its construction was identical, they made it to the core with little difficulty. Cloud shifted the weight of his sword as they walked up the final catwalk to the center of the core.  
  
Cloud followed Tifa and Barett towards it, until, without warning, his vision went red and he blacked out. -Or rather, he experienced a flashback.  
  
He remembered climbing the ladder and looking down at a younger Tifa. She was hunched over the body of an older man, sobbing desperately. He noticed a particularly long sword on the floor next to her, and it brought a sudden drop into his stomach.  
  
The girl looked up, her amber eyes brimming with tears. "Papa...." She sniffled, "Sephiroth..."  
  
She sat up, glaring with all the hate she could muster. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he!?"  
  
She sobbed again, "Sephiroth... SOLDIER... Mako Reactors... ShinRa... Everything!!" She stood up, crying uncontrollably. "I hate them all!!" She screamed, and lifted the heavy sword, half-carrying, half dragging it into the next room.  
  
Cloud suddenly came out of his hallucination. He looked up dazedly from the dirty floor of the catwalk. Barett hid his concern for the younger man with a smart-assed little comment, "Damn man, get a hold of yourself."  
  
Tifa was loyally at his side, for which he was briefly thankful. "You all right?" She asked, possibly fighting off tears.  
  
Feeling guilty for making her worry, he stood up and leaned on the railing for support. "...Tifa?"  
  
She smiled at him, "Mmm?"  
  
He shook his head yet again. "No... forget... Come on, let's hurry up."  
  
Tifa let him walk toward the control panel, a bit hurt by his inability to talk to her. 'Even though I admit this isn't exactly the time...' she thought.  
  
He hurriedly planted the bomb, and the trio raced back down the hallways. As they ran down the hallway that would lead them to street level, they nearly ran into a group of ShinRa soldiers. Barett stopped dead in his tracks.  
  
"ShinRa soldiers? SHIT! What the hell's going on?"  
  
Cloud drew his sword and brandished it menacingly, "...a trap."  
  
It was dead silent for a long minute, then someone walked up the plank they had just came from. Barett whirled around, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "President ShinRa...?"  
  
Tifa cringed back a bit, "Why is the President here?"  
  
The fat man walked slowly, angering Barett even more with each step. "Hmm... So you all must be that... ... what was it?" he asked, waving a careless hand.  
  
"AVALANCHE!!" Barett nearly exploded, "And don't ya forget it! And you're President ShinRa, huh?"  
  
Cloud stepped in front of the seething renegade, and locked eyes with the man who basically owned the entire world. "Long time no see, President."  
  
The wealthy man cocked a thinning eyebrow. "...Long time no see? Oh...you." He spat. "You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you'd been exposed to Mako from the glow in your eyes. Tell me, traitor... what was your name?"  
  
"Cloud Strife."  
  
"Hmm, yes, well forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each person's name. ...unless you become another Sephiroth. Yes, he was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant..."  
  
Cloud stepped back as though he had been physically hit. "Sephiroth.....?"  
  
Barett pushed the smaller man behind him, unable to control himself any longer. "Don't give a damn 'bout none of that! This place's goin' up with a BANG soon! Serve's y'all right!" He roared at the well-dressed man.  
  
"And such a waste of fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you." He smiled evilly.  
  
Barett lost his cool completely and started yelling with such poor grammar that it wasn't difficult to miss what he was saying entirely. "Vermin!! That's all you can say! Vermin! Y'all ShinRa are the vermin! Killin' the planet! And that makes you King Vermin! So shu'up jackass!"  
  
"You are beginning to bore me. I'm a very busy man, so if you'll excuse me... I have a dinner I must attend."  
  
"Dinner!!?" the dark man shouted, infuriated. "Don't gimme none of that! I ain't even started wit' you yet!"  
  
The President smiled knowingly. "But, I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." He pulled a small remote and jabbed the button with a pudgy finger.  
  
A slight whirring noise grew louder and louder until a towering robot-like beast burst out from the hallway to their left. "Meet Airbuster," the President sneered. "A techno-soldier. Our Weapon Development Department created him. I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."  
  
Cloud stole a sideways glance at the mechanical menace. "...Techno- soldier?" Suddenly a helicopter lumbered slowly to the catwalk and President ShinRa began to board it. The Ex-SOLDIER sprinted forward but couldn't reach him quick enough. The helicopter slowly straightened out and flew off into the darkness above them.  
  
Cloud whirled around, and saw the Airbuster cornering Barett and Tifa. "Yo! Cloud! We've gotta do somethin' about him!" Barett yelled, firing his gunarm.  
  
"Help! Cloud!" Tifa shouted, casting a surge of fire that didn't seem to do anything. Cloud sprinted behind it and swung his sword at the beast, knocking a chunk of metal off it. "This thing is from SOLDIER?" Tifa shouted to him.  
  
"No way! This is just a machine!" He yelled back to her.  
  
Barett continued firing bullets at it, "I don't care what it is, I'm gonna bust him up!" He was barely able to dodge a spray of fire that erupted from the machine. Cloud growled in contempt and fired a lightning bolt into the Airbuster's head area. A couple of fuses short-circuited, it was obviously having trouble moving. I lurched forward suddenly, ramming directly into Barett and Tifa.  
  
They were knocked a good distance away, but to the mercenary's relief, the began to doggedly pull themselves to their feet. Thankful for the healing materia he had purchased before, he cast a restoring spell on the two of them.  
  
They stood up and were about to continue attacking it when a loud beep sounded from within the monster. Barett was about to shout a warning, but before he could, the whole thing exploded. Bits of metal flew everywhere and shrapnel bit deeply into the flesh of the three rebels. the initial explosion also took out a large chunk of catwalk, leaving a gaping maw where about fifteen feet of metal had been before.  
  
Tifa watched in complete horror as Cloud was thrown into the gap. He quickly reached out and grabbed hold of a protruding piece of metal. He looked over his shoulder, then closed his eyes at the dizzying height he was dangling over.  
  
Barett put a supportive hand on her shoulder, "It's gonna blow, we gotta get out of here."  
  
"Barett! Can't you do something?" She pleaded in near hysterics.  
  
He solemnly shook his head. "Not a damn thing."  
  
She leaned forword and stretched out her hand to Cloud, who was much too far to reach it. "Cloud! Please don't die! You can't die! There's still so much I want to tell you!"  
  
He smiled at her. "I know....Tifa..." The catwalk shook violently.  
  
Barett glanced at him, quietly admiring his determination and strength, even if he was a smart-mouthed little punk. "Hey, you gonna be alright?"  
  
He looked down again. "You worry about yourselves. I'm alright, but take care of Tifa."  
  
Tears began to fall from her eyes. He was about to fall to his death, and he was thinking of her safety. Barett tightened his grip on her as though he was afraid she might jump after him. "Alright...Sorry 'bout this." He mumbled.  
  
Cloud looked up, the cocky gleam returning to his face. "Stop talkin' like this is the end!" The entire structure shook violently, and Cloud slipped and fell from the Upper Plate to the slums, an eternity below him. 


	5. Chapter 4: Flowers

Are you alright?  
  
So dark... Am I dead?  
  
Can you hear me?  
  
Cloud listened carefully, through the darkness, he could hear the voice, the same voice that had spoken to him in the first Reactor. It was so terribly familiar, like a haunting memory. Maybe it was best he couldn't recall who it was, there were so many other things he wanted to rid from his already muddled past.  
  
Yeah.  
  
Back then... You could get by with just skinned knees...  
  
He floated aimlessly in the darkness, unable to see anything.  
  
What do you mean by 'back then'?  
  
What about now? Can you get up?  
  
He wrinkled his brow in confusion, or at least, tried to.  
  
What do you mean by 'that time'? What about now?  
  
Don't worry about me. You should worry about yourself...  
  
Struggled to move, anything, that might reveal his location, or the male voice.  
  
I...I'll give it a try...  
  
He was suddenly able to feel the ground beneath his back. Cloud tried to move again, but this time, he was met with waves of pain raking up and down him.  
  
"Oh! He moved!" He heard a female voice exclaim.  
  
Cloud tried to communicate with the previous voice.  
  
How about that?  
  
Take it slow. Little by little.  
  
"Hello... hello?" The female called.  
  
Cloud concentrated on the first voice,  
  
I know. He paused for a moment. ...Hey... who are you?  
  
"Hello? Hello?" The female called again.  
  
Without really controlling it, Cloud slowly pulled into consiousness. He was staring up at a wooden ceiling, a good distance above him, with a large hole through it. He weakly looked to his right, and saw the girl he had bought a flower from after his first mission with AVALANCHE. She smiled sweetly at him. "You okay? This is a church in the Sector 5 Slums. You suddenly fell on top of me. You really gave me a scare!"  
  
He brought a gloved hand to his forehead and winced painfully. "I came crashing down?"  
  
She nodded, her bangs swinging into her cheerful face. "The roof and the flower bed must have broken your fall. You're lucky."  
  
"Flower bed? Is this yours?" He stood up and brushed some of the dirt off his shoulders. "Sorry about that."  
  
She stood up as well, still smiling. "That's all right. The flowers here are quite resilient because this is a sacred place. They say you can't grow grass or flowers in Midgar, but for some reason, the flowers have no trouble blooming here." She looked around her and breathed the air in deeply. "I love it here." She kneeled and began to tend to the flowers that Cloud had flattened from his fall. "So," She looked up, her eyes shone brightly. "... we meet again. Do you remember me?"  
  
Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I remember you. You were selling flowers."  
  
She brightened up. "Oh, I'm so happy! Thanks for buying my flowers." She paused for a moment. "Say, do you have any materia?"  
  
"Yes, some." He affirmed, picking up his sword that had been embedded in the floor next to the little garden. "Nowadays you can find materia anywhere."  
  
She pointed to a white materia orb that was secured to her thick braid of hair. "But mine is special," she giggled. "It's good for absolutely nothing."  
  
He threw her a questioning glance. "...... Good for nothing? You probably just don't know how to use it."  
  
She shook her head. "No, I do... It just doesn't do anything. I feel safe just having it. It was my mother's..." She looked upwards, frowning thoughtfully at the gaping hole in her roof. "Say, I feel like talking. Do you feel up to it? After all, here we are meeting again, right?"  
  
He thought for a moment, "I don't mind."  
  
She beamed happily at him. "Wait for a minute, I've got to check my flowers. It'll just be a minute." She went to work quickly, propping up a few broken flowers and sprinkling a bit of water on them. "Oh! Now that you mention it... we don't know each other's names, do we? I'm Aeris, the flower girl. Nice to meet you." She bowed her head slightly.  
  
"The name's Cloud. Me....? I do a little bit of everything."  
  
"Oh! A jack of all trades."  
  
He nodded. "Yeah.... I do whatever's needed."  
  
She laughed a bit and he looked at her questioningly. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?"  
  
She stopped and smiled at him again. "Sorry.... I just..."  
  
Cloud tensed suddenly and glared at something behind her. Noticing his sudden mood swing, she looked behind her to see a tall, lean man with a wrinkled business suit on in the doorway of the church.  
  
They turned to the lanky man. He calmly brushed a strand of firey hair out of his aqua-green eyes. Cloud only saw a nightstick strapped to his thigh, but he guessed that his wrinkled suit concealed more weapons. The intruder smirked, his cigarette dangling from his lips.  
  
Aeris seemed to shrink back, and she leaned closer to Cloud for protection. "Say, Cloud," She whispered, "Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?"  
  
He noticed the stranger wasn't making any hostile movements, but he didn't take his eyes off him for a split second. "Yeah, that's right."  
  
The flower girl clung a bit closer to him, "Then get me out of here. Take me home."  
  
Cloud nodded his glare not wavering for a second. "I'll do it... but it'll cost you."  
  
She frowned slightly; she didn't have any money on her. "Well then, let's see... How about if I go on a date with you once?"  
  
This time Cloud looked at her, confused. The strange man in the doorway of the church took a couple of steps forward, causing the now-bodyguard to shift the weight of his enormous sword. He stalked toward the intruder. "I don't know who you are, but..."  
  
The other man smirked sadistically again. "You don't know me....?"  
  
I know you.  
  
Cloud nodded. "Oh yeah.... I know you. That uniform..."  
  
Three ShinRa guards followed up behind the scruffy man. "Reno! Do you want him taken out, sir?"  
  
Reno smirked again and ran a gloved hand through his flaming red mop of hair, then back along his unkempt ponytail, "I haven't decided yet."  
  
Aeris put her slim hands on her hips. "Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" She ran forward and snatched up Cloud's arm. "The exit is back here, let's go!" He nodded and followed her through the back door.  
  
Reno chuckled quietly to himself. "They were... mako eyes." He turned to the lethargic guards behind him. "Yeah, all right. Back to work, back to work." He licked his lips; savoring the taste of the beer he downed before his latest assignment, and took his time walking to the exit. On his way, he made use of his boots, tramping on as many flowers as her could. He had made it to the door, when he turned back to the ShinRa soldiers behind him. "Oh! And don't step on the flowers...." He laughed louder as the three of them started jabbering at once.  
  
"Hey, Boss! You just stepped on them!"  
  
"They're all ruined!"  
  
"You're gonna catch a holy hell!"  
  
Cloud and Aeris ran into the large room. He looked up and saw another hole in the ceiling. He turned to Aeris. "Can we get down if we go out through the roof?"  
  
She nodded, her thick braid swinging behind her. He ran up the creaky wooden steps and she followed behind him. She watched in fear as he agilely cleared a rather large gap in the floorboards. He landed light on his feet and turned to her. "C'mon! This way!"  
  
She was about to protest when the door was kicked in and Reno and his three back-ups walked inside. "There they are!" He shouted to his men as he pulled out a handgun from the inside of his jacket. The four ShinRa employees opened fire.  
  
Aeris screamed and stepped back. Unfortunately, it couldn't support her weight and she fell through. She heard Cloud shout her name but the old air rushing past her ears muted it somewhat. Reno directed on of the guards to catch her. "Think we killed her?" He asked, loud enough for the Ex-SOLDIER to her, "That's what they get for fighting."  
  
She landed, but instead of the guard catching her, she flattened him. She took off for the stairs, but one of Reno's men attacked her. "Cloud! Help!" She suddenly wanted to smack herself for leaving her fighting staff at home. She noticed the man had stopped advancing and was looking up in horror. She glanced upward long enough to catch a glimpse of a heavy barrel crashing down on the man.  
  
Aeris raced up the stairs, knowing that she wouldn't have made it if it weren't for Cloud. He met her half way and helped he clear the gap, then crossing it himself. He laughed quietly as he and Aeris climbed through a large hole in the roof. The pair climbed out on the rickety roof and from the shadows, they watched the red-haired man leave with two of his men limping away. Aeris grinned triumphantly. "Ha! He's looking for me again!"  
  
Cloud looked at her, surprised. "You mean it's not the first time he's been after you?"  
  
"No." She shook her head.  
  
"He's part of the Turks." He explained quietly. "The Turks are an organization in the ShinRa. They scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER."  
  
A worried look spread across her features. "This violently? I thought they were trying to kidnap me."  
  
He nodded, "Yeah, they're also involved in a bunch of dirty stuff on the side. Spying, murder... you know."  
  
She agreed wholeheartedly. "They look like it."  
  
"But why are they after you? There must be a reason, right?"  
  
She shook her head again. "No, not really. Maybe they think I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER."  
  
He smirked a bit, remembering his tough training to get into the elite group. "Maybe you do. You want to join?"  
  
"I don't know... but I don't want to get caught by THOSE people!"  
  
He stood up. "Then, let's go." She followed him down the roof and across other rooftops and chunks of debris. After a while she noticed he was a good distance in front of her.  
  
Cloud focused on finding a safe route to get away from the Church, and hopefully Reno as well. "Wait!" She called, "Wait, I said!" She climbed doggedly to where he was standing, panting and wheezing the whole way. "Slow... down..." She panted. "Don't leave me!"  
  
He smirked teasingly. "Funny... I thought you were cut out to be in SOLDIER?  
  
"Oh! You're terrible!" She frowned but her look softened a bit as he laughed. "Hey... Cloud. Were you ever in SOLDIER?"  
  
He stopped laughing and turned to her. "I used to be. How did you guess?"  
  
She looked bashfully at her feet. "Your eyes have a strange glow."  
  
He nodded. "That's the sign of those who have been infused with mako... A mark of SOLDIER. But how did you know about that?"  
  
She hastily looked away. "Oh. Nothing."  
  
He cocked his head skeptically, "Nothing?"  
  
She glanced at him, a bit annoyed at his persistence. "Right! Nothing! Come on! Let's go, Bodyguard."  
  
They walked on in silence, hoping desperately that they wouldn't run into Reno or anyone else from the Turks on the way to Aeris' house. Cloud turned and helped Aeris down a large chunk of debris, she thanked him and searched her bleak surroundings. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at him. "Whew! Finally made it off!" She indicated to the difficult route he had chosen. "Now what..." Again, she looked down the dark alleyway. "My house is down that way. Let's hurry before the Turks come looking for us." Cloud nodded. She led him through the Sector Five slums before they finally came upon a small house with flowers blooming all around it. He shook his head, the little house reminded him of his own hometown... No... he needed to stop living in the past. That was all gone now. He came back to his senses when Aeris lightly touched his upper arm and beckoned him inside. It was tastefully decorated inside, and fresh flowers were in vase on the kitchen counters and on the quaint little dining table. Aeris stood at the bottom of a small flight of stairs. "I'm home, mom!" She called. An older woman, well into her forties, stepped down. She smiled warmly at her daughter, but frowned thoughtfully when her eyes wandered over to Cloud, standing awkwardly near the doorway. Aeris sensed this and turned back to her mother. "This is Cloud, my body guard." She piped in. The older woman looked at her, worry evident on her face. "Bodyguard...?" She put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "You mean you were followed again? Are you all right? You're not hurt are you?" She was still smiling even as she shook her head. "I'm all right, I had Cloud with me." Her mother sighed, a bit exasperated and walked towards him. "Thank you, Cloud." She bowed slightly. "I'm Elmyra Gainsborough, Aeris' mother." She turned and left, leaving complete silence until she was all the way upstairs. Aeris turned to Cloud. "So, what are you going to do now?" He stretched his arms and legs a bit, still quite sore from his horrendous fall. She was amazed he had been able to survive; not only that, but he didn't sustain any serious injuries. "Is Sector 7 far from here? I want to go to Tifa's bar, the Seventh Heaven." She looked a bit more serious for a moment, "Is Tifa... a girl?" "Yeah." "A girl... friend?" His face immediately burned red. He wished he could call Tifa his girlfriend... But they had been friends since they were just kids. Why should they have to risk that? And besides, he was such a failure, that he should feel honored that she would even talk to him. 'Tifa deserved so much more than a smart mouthed, poor, weak, insignificant jerk like me anyway...' He thought sadly. He regained his train of thought to the sound of Aeris' high- pitched giggles. Before Cloud could protest, she moved next to the stairs, and called to her mother. "Mom? I'm taking Cloud to Sector 7! I'll be back in a while!" Elmyra came down the stairs and looked pleadingly at her daughter. "But dear... I give up. You never listen once you've made up your mind. But if you must go, why don't you wait until tomorrow? It's getting late now." Aeris seemed to consider this a moment. "Yeah, you're right, mom." The other nodded back, "Then go make the bed for our guest." Aeris nodded and left her mother alone with the mercenary. She turned to him. "That glow in your eyes... you're from SOLDIER, right?" He nodded, suddenly very tired. "Yeah. Rather I used to be." She looked to her feet. "... I don't know how to say this, but... could you please leave tonight? Without telling Aeris? He looked at her, surprised for a moment, and half-nodded. Walking upstairs, the only thing on his mind was sleep. He saw Aeris as he climbed up, and she smiled sweetly at him again. "You need to go through sector 6 to get to Sector 7. 6 is pretty dangerous, so you'd better get some rest tonight." He nodded and managed to drag himself into the tiny bedroom and flopped onto the soft mattress and it wasn't long before he was overcome by darkness. Seem pretty tired Cloud was suddenly alert. He heard that mysterious voice again. He wasn't sure if it was his subconscious talking to him, or if it was a voice from his past... I haven't slept in a bed like this... in a long time. ...Oh yeah. Cloud wasn't sure if he was actually speaking or telepathically talking, but he didn't really care. Ever since that time... Suddenly, the devouring darkness faded. The Ex-SOLDIER was lying on a bed, but in a completely different house. It had only one room, and there was a blond woman walking back and forth between some kitchen appliances across from the bed. It was his mother. She turned and smiled lovingly at her son, who was still loafing on the bed. "My, how you've grown. I'll bet the girls never leave you alone." He remembered shaking his head at his mother. "... Not really." There had been a pause, as she tended to the food that she was preparing. "... I'm worried about you. There are a lot of temptations in the city... I'd feel a lot better if you just settled down and had a nice girlfriend." "I'm all right." He vividly remembered his mother's hurt expression, and how she had quickly covered it up. "You should have... an older girlfriend, one that'll take care of you. I think that would be the perfect type for you." "I'm not interested..." He had sighed. Cloud's deep blue eyes snapped open suddenly. "...I must've fallen asleep." He shook his head, as to physically clear away painful memories of his mother. Slowly, he slung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. He checked the small clock on the wall and the hands revealed that it was almost one thirty in the morning. "Sector 7's past Sector 6... I should be okay by myself..." He thought out loud. He checked his materia and snatched his sword from the corner. Slowly, he opened the door and quietly padded down the creaky wooden stairs. He made it to the front door without any trouble and in no time at all, he had already crossed through Sector 5 and was almost at the alleyway that lead to Sector 6. He turned the corner abruptly, and right into an annoyed looking Aeris. He noticed that this time, she had a fighting bo strapped to her back. "You're up bright and early." She put her hands on her slim hips. Cloud instantly went into a defensive argument. "How could I ask you to go along when I knew it would be dangerous?" She rolled her shimmering emerald eyes. "Are you done?" She watched him run a nervous hand through his spikey blond hair, and almost laughed out loud when the stiff spikes returned to their original position. "You have to go through Sector 6 to get to Tifa's 7th Heaven. I'll take you there." Before Cloud could civilly protest, she was already running down the way. He sighed and jogged up after her. They walked in silence through Sector 6. It really wasn't anywhere as dangerous as he had imagined it. The worst dealing they had was a couple of everyday street thugs. 'I'm a lot stronger than her, though' Cloud reminded himself. Aeris sighed in relief as they made it out of the demolished sector and pointed to a heavy iron gate just beyond the beat up playground they had come to stand in. "That's the gate to Sector 7." Cloud nodded and smiled. He couldn't wait to see Tifa and let he know that he was okay. "Thanks. I guess this is goodbye. You gonna be alright going home?" "Oh no!" The thought had never crossed her mind. "Come with me to Sector 7 and we'll get you home tommorow." He offered. "I could do that." She agreed. "But won't I be in your way?" Cloud grew a little impatient. He really had to see Tifa... "What do you mean 'in the way'?" She quickly responed to him. "Nothing!" She smiled to cover her haste. "Can we take a break?" He nodded to her, and she climbed up to the top of a moogle-shaped slide. "Cloud! Come up here!" He smiled tiredly and climbed up and sat down next to her. She looked at him and grinned brightly, glad that he had joined her. "What rank were you?" She asked suddenly. "Rank?" "You know in SOLDIER." "Oh, I was..." Aeris watched confused as his eyes suddenly went blank. She breathed a sigh of relief when he came back to his senses. "...First Class." She looked away sadly. "Just the same as him." "The same as who?" "My first boyfriend." "You were... serious?" He looked at her, wondering why they both suddenly prying into each other's lives. She laughed. "No. But I liked him for a while." He smiled back at her. "I probably knew him. What was his name?" He frowned thoughtfully as she shook her head sadly. "It doesn't really matter-" She was cut off as a loud rumbling erupted from the gate to Sector 7 slid open. "Huh? Hey, back there...!" Cloud stood up and watched as a carriage being pulled by a chocobo lumbered toward Wall Market. "Tifa!?" He shouted in surprise. Aeris followed his gaze to see a girl her age riding in the back. Within seconds the cart was out of veiw. "That girl in the cart was Tifa? Where was she going? She looked kind of odd..." She didn't let Cloud reply as she hopped from the slide and raced after the wagon. Cloud shouted to her. "Wait! I'll go on alone! You go home!!" He growled to himself when she ignored him and kept following it towards the market. Quickly, he jumped down too, and ran after her. 


	6. Chapter 5: Friendship

Cloud finally caught up with Aeris as she passed into Wall Market, a place well known throughout the entire city. "Hey! Wait!" He called to her. She finally stopped.  
  
"This place is scary in a lot of ways." She told him, rather abruptly. "Especially for a girl. So we've got to find Tifa fast."  
  
Cloud frowned darkly. He didn't like what Aeris was implying at all. He knew that Tifa was one of the best martial artists he knew, and she was perfectly able to defend herself, but if something along THOSE lines happened to her he'd never forgive himself. 'No!' He mentally steeled himself 'Stop thinking that!'  
  
He mindlessly followed Aeris around the marketplace, lost deep in thought. They turned a blind corner and right onto the walkway that led up to a building with neon signs all over. They all read 'Honey Bee Manor'. Cloud growled, disgusted. He wrinkled his nose as a fat man in a suit waddled up to him, grinning widely. "Welcome!" He greeted. "Even unpopular dweebs like you may meet your destiny her!! You looking for a girlfriend too?"  
  
The Ex-SOLDIER shook his head. "Do you know a girl named Tifa?" He hated thinking she might be at a scummy place like this, but he kept a level head.  
  
The obese man laughed harshly. "Hey, you're pretty fast! Tifa's our newest girl!" Cloud's heart dropped and his stomach twisted into knots. "But unfortunately, she's having an interview right now. Here at the Honey Bee Manor, it's customary for all the new girls to be taken to Don Corneo's mansion." Cloud's blond eyebrows furrowed, but the fat man was oblivious to it, and kept talking. "Don Corneo is a famous dilettante. Now he wants to settle down and is in the market for a bride."  
  
Cloud snarled loudly and wanted nothing more than to beat the life out of the ass. He felt his own fists tighten, but before he could do anything, he felt a small hand on his shoulder, reminding him that Aeris was still there. She offered him a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't worry, Cloud! C'mon let's go."  
  
He glared hate-daggers at the fat guy before turning around and following Aeris out. He watched moodily as Aeris walked up to somebody and asked about the Don's whereabouts.  
  
"Just keep goin' straight." He heard him say. The flower girl thanked him and returned to Cloud.  
  
"C'mon, Cloud. That guy was nice enough to give us directions." He nodded back to her, and this time, he led the way to the Don's mansion at the edge of Wall Market.  
  
The walk was short and pretty soon, they traveled up another walkway that led to a fairly lavish-looking mansion. Cloud stalked up to the man at the gate. The gatekeeper eyed Aeris and looked up to the Ex-SOLDIER. "This is the mansion of Don Corneo, the most powerful man in Wall Market." He sneered at Cloud. "Look, the Don's not into men, so don't let me catch you around here again."  
  
The blond mercenary scowled angrily, and the other man visibly cringed. He resolved that he wouldn't leave his post and tried to think of something that would keep this battle-worn street rat at bay. "H-hey! If you wanna bring that cute one in," He pointed to Aeris, "the Don'll give you a fat stack of cash."  
  
Aeris quickly dragged Cloud off to the side before a fight broke out. "Hey, don't worry!" She tried to sound calm and confident. "I'll go take a look. I'll tell Tifa about you."  
  
Cloud shook his head. "No!" He hissed, "You can't!" He had no right to bring a total stranger into this dirty situation. Especially someone as innocent as Aeris.  
  
"Why?"  
  
He slapped his forehead. "You DO know... what kind of.... Place this is, don't you?"  
  
She looked over her shoulder uneasily. "Then what am I supposed to do? You want to come in with me?"  
  
He frowned thoughtfully. "Well, being a man, that'll be pretty hard. Besides, if I bust in, it'll cause to much commotion." He was silent. Suddenly Aeris started giggling quietly, but Cloud was utterly oblivious. "But I can't let you go in there alone... Oh, man...." She was still laughing, a bit harder now, but he didn't notice. "First, we'll need to find out if Tifa's alright..." He finally noticed her laughing, he stared at her for a second, a bit annoyed. "What's so funny?"  
  
"Cloud, why don't you dress up like a girl? It's the only way." She suggested, still grinning broadly.  
  
"WHAT??" He looked at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. But before she bothered to explain, she skipped over to the gatekeeper.  
  
"Just wait, okay?" She smiled brightly. "I have a cute friend I want to bring!"  
  
He nodded and Aeris waltzed back over to Cloud. He ran his hands through his hair and then down over his crimson face. "Aeris! I can't..."  
  
She smiled and nodded encouragingly to him. "You ARE worried about Tifa, aren't you?" He nodded through his gloved hands. "Then c'mon! Hurry!"  
  
Nearly two hours later, Cloud dragged himself into the dress shop for quite possibly the third or fourth time. Aeris held a bag out to him, which contained some of the items she had picked up for more 'effect'. He just could not believe what he was doing. 'I hope she appreciates it...' he thought morosely.  
  
He sulked into the dressing room and threw the bag on the bench. He swallowed his pride and slipped on the dress. 'Gods, spare me.' He also put on the wig he had received by beating a couple of freaks at a gym at the squats. After that, he sprayed on some foul-smelling cologne that he gotten after an incident involving about twenty gay men and a bathtub.  
  
**Author's note: Look, I know that Cloud got women's underwear from Mukki and his buddies, but I couldn't bring myself to write that.**  
  
He made sure his original outfit was secure underneath the dress, after all, he was only wearing it to get inside the stupid place. "Okay..." He called, surrendering what pride he had left. "I'm ready." and opened the door.  
  
Aeris grinned approvingly and the dressmaker gave him the thumbs-up. "Hmmm..." He smiled slyly. "Not bad. This may be a new business for me."  
  
Cloud rolled his eyes as he felt his face grow hot. He shuffled closer towards the door. Aeris shook her head disapprovingly. "Walk more nicely, Miss Cloud."  
  
He shook his head. "What do you mean nicely?"  
  
"Take smaller steps, Miss Cloud." She emphasized his new name and he rolled his eyes again. He did so and Aeris clapped, and began laughing. "Oh, you're so cute, Miss Cloud!" She wandered over to the clothing rack and began to shift through it. "Ah, I want one! Do you have one that'll look good on me, too?"  
  
The shop owner and his daughter argued for a second, before Aeris gave up and picked up a floor length red dress. She skipped over to the dressing room and in a few minutes, she came strutting out. "So, how do I look?"  
  
Cloud shook his head.  
  
"Oh! You're no fun!"  
  
Cloud and Aeris briskly walked toward Don Corneo's mansion for the second time that day. Unfortunately for Cloud, it was something he was dreading immensely. To make matters worst, the people milling about on the streets were staring at him. Cloud felt his face burning and his stomach was doing acrobatics inside of him. 'Why couldn't we have just broken in?' He thought, mentally slapping himself.  
  
They walked up to the doorman Cloud had nearly tried to kill earlier. He looked up with a scowl but his expression turned to one of disbelief when he saw the two ladies in front of him. He immediately recognized the one on the left by her long braid that fell softly behind her. The second woman looked familiar but he couldn't get a good look at her face. She was looking at her feet and her hair partially covered the visible part of her face. He decided he liked her shyness.  
  
"Damn!" The doorman exclaimed. "Your friend's hot, too!"  
  
Cloud wanted to die.  
  
"Come in, come in!" The doorman ushered them to the front door. "Two ladies coming through!"  
  
Aeris led Cloud in and they were soon confronted by the receptionest. "Hey ladies," He smirked at them. "I'll go let the Don know you're here. Wait here, and don't go wandering around."  
  
As soon as he was out of sight, Cloud exhaled sharply. Aeris grinned at him. "Now's our chance." She whispered. "Let's find Tifa."  
  
He nodded and quickly made his way upstairs. As if on instinct, he found a staircase heading down to the basement. With Aeris following him, he quickly ran down the steps. The steps seemed to go on forever, but when they finally stopped, the small hallway opened up into a bigger room.  
  
Aeris saw a woman in the corner and approached her. The other one turned around and looked at her questioningly. Aeris smiled politely. "...Tifa?"  
  
Tifa nodded.  
  
"Nice to meet you. Cloud's told me a lot about you."  
  
Tifa's eyes lit up for a second. "... And you are?" She suddenly remembered who she was looking at. "Hey, you're the one with Cloud at that playground."  
  
Aeris nodded. "Right, with Cloud."  
  
Tifa's heart plummeted. She had seen Cloud there with this new girl but was too shocked that he was alive to notice the fact that he'd been with another girl. "Oh..."  
  
The flower girl sensed Tifa's apathy toward what she had accidentially implied and tried to cover it. "Don't worry. We just met. It's nothing."  
  
The martial artist smiled briefly but played dumb for the sake of formality. "What do you mean, 'Don't worry'... about what?" She was a little embarrassed that a total stranger had picked up on her hidden feelings. "No, don't misunderstand, Cloud and I grew up together, nothing more." 'Yeah right.' She thought.  
  
The other girl snickered quietly. "Poor Cloud. Having to stand here and listen to both of us call him nothing."  
  
She was about to question what she meant when she noticed the other woman behind her.  
  
Aeris smiled broadly. "Right, Cloud?"  
  
"Cloud?" Tifa's brows knitted together and she stepped closer to the girl. 'That hair! That IS Cloud!!' "Oh my Gods! Cloud!?"  
  
Cloud wished was dead again as his face burned crimson.  
  
"Why are you dressed like that!?" Tifa ranted. "And what are you doing here!?" Here eyes went wide with complete shock. "Forget that! What happened to you after the fall?? Are you hurt?"  
  
Cloud put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. "Tifa! It's okay. Let me explain." His face turned a darker shad of red, but he desperately tried to hang onto his cocky attitude. "I'm dressed like this... because there was no other way to get in here. After the fall? I'm allright. Aeris helped me out." Tifa nodded excitedly. "Tifa," Cloud started again. "Explain. What are you doing in a place like this?"  
  
This time she turned a little red and looked a bit emabarassed and ashamed. "Yeah... well..."  
  
"Ahem!" Aeris cleared her throat. "I'll just plug my ears."  
  
Tifa looked at Cloud with understanding brown eyes. "I'm glad you're okay."  
  
He nodded, his hair and dress swaying a bit. "Thanks. What happened?"  
  
She crossed her arms and started. "When we got back from the Number Five reactor, there was this really suspiscious little man. So Barett caught him and squeezed some information out of him."  
  
He nodded again, desperately hoping that she would agree with his next statement of: "That's when the Don's name popped up."  
  
It was her turn to nod. "Right. Don Cornero." Cloud mentally sighed with relief before she continued. "Barett told me to leave the lech alone... but something's been bothering me."  
  
"I see. So you wanted to get the straight from Corneo's mouth?" He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of her sleeping with a stranger to get information, but he wasn't sure. Something just wasn't right. What if Corneo was somehow involved with the ShinRa? The Don had connections all over the slums.  
  
"So I made it here, but now I'm in a bind." She bit her lip nervously. "Corneo's looking for a bride." Cloud paled. "Everyday he gets three girls, and chooses one of them. And then... ... and, well... I have to be the girl for tonight, or I'm out."  
  
Aeris turned to face them from where she had been standing. "Sorry... but I overheard... If you know the three girls then there's no problem, right?"  
  
"I guess so," Tifa trailed.  
  
"We have two here, right?"  
  
Cloud shook his head, "No! Aeris, I can't get you involved in something like this! Do you have any idea what they do to women here?"  
  
She put her hands on her hips. "Oh, so it's okay for Tifa to be in danger?"  
  
He clenched his fists. "I don't want Tifa in here either!"  
  
Slowly Aeris approached Tifa. The martial artist cocked her head slightly. "Is it all right?"  
  
Aeris smiled thinly. "I grew up in the slums. I'm used to danger." She locked eyes with the dark-haired woman. "Do you trust me?"  
  
The other smiled brightly, erasing all worried thoughts from her face. "Yes. Thank you, Aeris-san."  
  
Aeris smiled yet again. "Call me Aeris."  
  
"HEY!"  
  
The three people whirled to look in the direction the exhasperated voice had come from. It was the receptionist. "It's time ladies! The Don is waiting!" He walked back up the stairs, mumbling under his breath. "I told ya not to wander around... I tell ya, women nowadays."  
  
Cloud sighed heavily as he and the two girls started up the stairs. "I probably don't need to ask but the other girl is.... me... right?"  
  
Tifa and Aeris smiled at each other. "You're right." Tifa grinned. "There was-"  
  
"No need to ask." Aeris finished for her. The two of them were sent into a bout of giggles as Cloud sighed dejectedly.  
  
A few moments later, the three of them walked into a large room, decorated with cheesy lights and other knick-knacks. In the middle of the room there was a large desk and there were two scrubby body guards on either side. The man sitting at the desk, however was a completely different story. He was dressed in a red robe and was lighting up a cigar as the three women walked in. The body guard on the left addressed them. "Alright ladies! Line up in front of the Don!"  
  
They did so and Corneo's face broke into a toothy grin. "Hmm! Good! Splendid!" He jumped off his desk and waddled up to the three of them. He stole a sideways glance up at Aeris and moved towards her. "Now let's see... which girl should I choose? Hmm?"  
  
Cloud didn't know what to do. He didn't want that oversexed pervert anywhere near Aeris OR Tifa, but he didn't want to be chosen either. He stopped in mid thought as the don looked him over.  
  
'Oh gods!' Cloud turned his face away from the cigar-smoking pervert.  
  
"This one?"  
  
'Try it Buddy. I'll make sure you'll never EVER have kids.'  
  
The Don left and started checking out Tifa, and Cloud's anger was starting to build.  
  
"Or maybe this one?" He grinned again and walked back over to Cloud.  
  
'Goddammit.'  
  
"I've made up my mind!" He shouted. "My choice for tonight is..."  
  
'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.'  
  
"This healthy-looking girl!" He swung his meaty finger towards Cloud.  
  
'Oh fuck.'  
  
Tifa started giggling uncontrolably and Aeris sooned joined in as they were led away.  
  
'They owe me SO bad...' He snapped out of his train of thought as he felt a thick fist engulf his own. 'Aaaugh!! That's gross!' He mentally screamed as the Don began to lead him into his bedroom.  
  
"Wa-wait a sec!" Cloud protested, but suddenly remembered how he was dressed. "I mean, uh, please wait a moment!"  
  
"Woo-hoo!" Corneo grinned sadistically. "I love chickies who play hard to get!! Yeowza!"  
  
'I'm not playing!' The mercenary thought desperately as he was led into the tastelessly decorated bedroom.  
  
Cloud gulped nervously as the Don led him off behind a curtain. The room after was so tastelessly decorated he was beginning to get a headache.  
  
The overweight slob smiled as he finally let go of Cloud's smaller fist. "Ahhh... We're finally alone."  
  
The hired mercenary shuddered 'Shit. I gotta stall or he's gonna notice that my sword is sheathed in the back of this dress. Not like I'd let him anywhere that close.'  
  
He was interrupted as the Don clambered onto the bed. "All right, pussycat! Come to daddy!"  
  
'What did he call me?!' Cloud slowly and cautiously stepped to the side of the bed, still wondering what the heck he was going to do.  
  
"You're so cute!" Corneo gushed. Cloud's face turned every shade of red imaginable. "I never get tired of looking at you."  
  
'Gods, either he's a really good actor or he really DOES think I'm a woman.'  
  
"Do you like me, too?" The Don questioned, casting him a sideways glance.  
  
"Uh..." Cloud stuttered; he hadn't been prepared for that. 'What am I thinking! I'm not prepared for any of this!'  
  
Corneo pouted. "You don't like me? There isn't someone else, is there?"  
  
'Why won't you leave me alone!?' He mentally screamed. "Yes! His name's Barett!!" Cloud blurted. He suddenly realized what he just said and his already red face deepened several shades. 'Oh gods, whatever I did to deserve this, I'm sorry.'  
  
The Don faked a look of hurt. "No way!" he seemed to think for a moment as he lit a cigar. "Hmmm? Barett? That sounds familiar."  
  
'Now is a good time to see what he knows.' Cloud smirked to himself. "You know, he's the one you were trying to find out about. You know, AVALANCHE...?"  
  
He nodded, and inhaled through the cigar, "Oh yeah, yeah. In the Sector 7 Slums...." His eyes snapped open suddenly and he leapt down towards Cloud. "And how do YOU know that!?" The pervert reached forward with surprising speed and grabbed Cloud's upper arm and jerked him closer. The fabric of the dress strained tight for a moment before ripping loudly. Corneo looked in surprise at the size of the blond 'girl's' bicep.  
  
Cloud stepped back quickly, and unfortunately, Corneo was still clinging to the dress and it ripped all the way across the front, revealing the swordsman's original outfit, as well as the monstrous sword on his back.  
  
Corneo was immediately enraged. "A man!?" He screamed. "You tricked me!!"  
  
"No shit!" Cloud smirked evilly, now he could do things the easy way!  
  
"Guards!! Somebody get in here!!" He yelled.  
  
"Unfortunately, no one'll be coming to help!" Cloud turned at the sound of the familiar voice and grinned widely. Tifa stepped through the curtain followed by Aeris.  
  
"You're the ones from before! Wh... What the hell's going on?"  
  
Tifa's dark brows knitted together and she stepped up to him. Without warning, she reeled back and swung her fist right at his jaw. He grunted loudly and fell over backwards on the bed. As he sat up again, she roughly grabbed his shirt collar. "Shut up! We're asking the questions now! What did your assistants find out?" She shook him and Cloud watched wide-eyed, she was beginning to scare him. "Talk! If you don't tell us-"  
  
The spikey-haired man interrupted her by putting his booted foot on the edge of the bed and leaning forward. "If you don't talk, I'll chop them off."  
  
Corneo's eyes widened and he scooted back as far as he could. "No! Not that! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"  
  
Tifa took a deep breath to calm herself down. "So...Talk."  
  
He looked around nervously. "... I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that's what I was ordered to do."  
  
Tifa locked eyes with him. "By who?"  
  
"No!" He shook his head. "If I told you that, I'd be killed!"  
  
"Talk!" Tifa growled. "If you don't tell us..."  
  
Aeris put her foot on the edge of the bed in the same manor Cloud had. "I'll rip them off!"  
  
"Waaaaah!!" He shook his head, looking like a cornered animal. "It was Heidegger of ShinRa! Heidegger, the head of Public Safety Maintenance!!"  
  
Cloud scratched his head. "The head of Public Safety Maintenance?"  
  
Tifa was now completely infuriated again. "Did you say the ShinRa?? What are they up to!? Tell us!! If you don't tell us, I'll smash them." She smirked and also put her foot on the bed.  
  
"...You're serious aren't you?... oh boy... oh boy... oh boy." He sighed. "Y'know, I'm not fooling around here either. The ShinRa's trying to crush a small rebel group called AVALANCH, and they want to infiltrate their hideout. But the thing is, they're gonna crush them... literally."  
  
The three rebels looked at him oddly.  
  
"... By breaking the support holding the plate above them."  
  
Aeris stepped back in shock, and Tifa's eyes shone with unshed tears. Cloud only looked on in disbelief.  
  
"Break the support?" The martial artist said breathlessly.  
  
The Don smiled and nodded. "You know what's going to happen? The plate'll go PING! And everything's gonna go BAMMMM! I'm just glad I'm in Sector 6."  
  
Cloud looked at him in utter shock. "If they take out the support, it'll wipe out the entire sector!"  
  
Tifa shook her head, her dark ponytail swaying back and forth. "Cloud, will you come with me?"  
  
He nodded somberly, "Yeah, of course."  
  
She took off and was almost out of the room when Corneo stood up. "Just a second!"  
  
"Shut up!" Cloud growled, the urgency of the situation just sinking in.  
  
"No wait, it'll only take a second. How do think scum like me feels when they spill their guts?"  
  
"They don't know what the hell's going on!"  
  
Corneo shouted in triumph. "Close but no cigar!" He slammed his thick fist into a button on the wall.  
  
Cloud was about to cast a lightning spell to shut him up, but the ground underneath him and the girls opened up and they all fell into an inky darkness.  
  
The fat dark-haired man approached the large desk where the President of the ShinRa sat, expectantly. Off to the side, another man stood, also with dark hair, but he was almost half the size of the first.  
  
The President addressed the fat man. "Heidegger, how are the preparations going?"  
  
Heidegger erupted with a loud laugh. "Smoothly, very smoothly! I assigned the Turks to this."  
  
The man off to the side looked up pleadingly. "President, are we really going to do this? Simply destroy a group with only a few members...?"  
  
The president looked down with mock pity. "What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?"  
  
Reeve shook his head, his mid-length black hair swaying with him. "...No. But as head of the Urban Development Department, I have been involved in the building and running of Midgar." He said elaborately. "That's why-"  
  
"Reeve, you should flush those personal problems in the morning."  
  
The ShinRa executive resisted the heavy urge to tell the bucket of lard to shut the hell up. "The Mayor's against this anyway!"  
  
Heidegger shrugged. "Mayor? He just sits in his office all day feeding his face! You still call that a mayor?" He turned back to his boss and executed a neat salute. "Now, if you'll excuse me, sir!" He turned and left through a sophisticated looking staircase.  
  
Reeve stretched out his arm after him. "No, wait!"  
  
"You look tired." The president observed. "Why don't you take a few days off and go somewhere." Reeve nodded and left, as he walked down the stairs, he heard the President laughing to himself.  
  
Cloud squeezed his eyes shut as he, Tifa, and Aeris plummeted from the Corneo mansion. He felt an exploding impact as he slammed into the ground. That was the second time he'd fallen that hard and lived in the past two days. He wasn't exactly sure how much more he could take.  
  
He stood up and realized he was in filthy water that reached up to his knees. He looked over and saw Tifa and Aeris near each other, but seemingly unconscious.  
  
He quickly trotted up to them and gently shook Aeris' shoulder. "Aeris? You okay?"  
  
She slowly got to her knees and coughed up a small amount of water before hastily wiping her face "Yeah."  
  
Cloud saw Tifa pulling herself to her feet, and he walked over and gently helped her to her feet. "Are you okay?"  
  
She averted her gaze and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Man! This is terrible."  
  
Aeris smiled reassuringly. "Well, the worst is over."  
  
As if on cue, a low rumbling noise was heard. The three of them looked up, startled. Whatever it was, it sure was big.  
  
Cloud reached for the hilt of his sword and pulled a handful of materia out of his pocket. He quickly attached a Fire and made sure his Bolt materia was still secured before he divvied up the rest of it between Tifa and Aeris. The flower girl smiled as she equipped a Restore and an Ice to her oversized bracelet. Tifa silently equipped hers after nodding to Cloud.  
  
They had barely locked eyes before a rush of water barreled out of the a tunnel to their left. It was followed by a ground shaking rumbling. The blond mercenary instantly dropped into a low battle stance as a huge blue monster burst through the opening.  
  
Cloud instinctively shot a flaming burst at it, and managed to temporarily stun it. Tifa noticed this and moved in for the attack. She sent a nimble heel-kick to the monster's jaw and was rewarded with a sickening crack.  
  
It howled in pain and lunged at Tifa. Swinging a cumbersome paw, it knocked her directly into the wall of the sewer.  
  
The Ex-SOLDIER snarled and swung his sword at the creature's soft underbelly. Aeris ran over to help Tifa as Cloud was distracting the menace.  
  
She concentrated and she managed to form a small ball of glowing green energy. It surrounded Tifa, whose intense amber eyes fluttered open. She nodded her thanks and shot repetitive ice blasts at the new threat, slowing it down considerably.  
  
Cloud, nearly consumed with the rage of the fight, let out a surprisingly frightening battle cry. He brandished his sword and leapt a great height into the air. He brought the heavy weapon crashing down on the monster's head with all the force he could muster.  
  
The giant beast howled again as the force cleanly cut into its skull. It sunk to the ground and began spilling green blood everywhere.  
  
Tifa hung her head and hugged herself, "It's too late..." She sniffled. "Marlene... Barett... the people of the slums."  
  
Aeris shook her head and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't give up, never, ever give up hope." She emphasized with surprising dedication. "It's not easy to destroy a pillar, right?"  
  
Tifa looked at Aeris and smiled warmly. "...Yeah... you're right! We still have time!"  
  
The three of them nodded in determination and began to search for a way out. 


	7. Chapter 6: Bravery

By the time the three rebels made it out of the sewer system, Cloud wasn't as hopeful as he was a while ago. They still had to make their way through the junkyard before they would reach the pillar and hopefully put a stop to the ShinRa.  
  
Cloud looked at Aeris for a moment. She had been kind enough to help him, an armed stranger, rescue his best friend from a dirty old man that could've done something awful to her, and now he was asking her to fight with them against the ShinRa? 'What kind of jerk am I?' He thought. "Aeris," She looked at him quizzically, "I got you into all this, so you don't have to-"  
  
She shook her head. "Don't tell me to go home." There were a lot of people in danger right now, and she wasn't going to just let Cloud and Tifa handle it.  
  
Tifa smiled warmly at the new ally and motioned to the junkyard. "If we can get past these old trains, we'll be at the foot of the pillar."  
  
A short time later, Cloud jumped off the last train car and sprinted down the alleyway. He hoped there was still time left. He could hear Tifa's footfalls behind him, and the Aeris' behind her. He broke through another alleyway and was standing at the foot of the massive pillar. Several people were standing at the bottom and looking up with awe.  
  
Tifa ran up behind him. "We made it! The pillar's still standing!  
  
A noise suddenly caught Cloud's ears. "Wait, what's that sound? Above us!"  
  
Aeris looked up and fidgeted anxiously, "Gun fire?"  
  
The three of them strained, but after a moment they were able to make out flashes of light and sound from twenty-some stories above. Cloud strained to make out what the movement was at the very top, but it was too late. A figure slipped over the edge and was falling towards them. It slammed into a few railings before plummeting to the ground before them. It was Wedge's battered and bloody body.  
  
Cloud kneeled at his side instantly. "Wedge! You all right??"  
  
The fat man's eyes were closed and blood began to trickle from his mouth. "Cloud..." He whispered barely audible.  
  
'Dammit' Cloud thought, they might be too late after all. He knew Wedge was a goner, but where was Biggs, Jessie, and Barett?  
  
"Cloud... You remembered my name..." He rasped, "Barett's up top... help him." He coughed and a spurt of blood rolled down his cheek, his eyes still closed. "An' .... Sorry"  
  
Tifa's tears welled up, she couldn't believe it. She'd known Wedge for almost three years... and now...  
  
Standing next to her was Aeris, who was openly crying but doing what she could to stop it. She was about to comfort Tifa when Cloud stood up abruptly and unsheathed his sword. "I'm going up!" He jogged to the tower stairs and starts climbing.  
  
"Aeris," Tifa started wiping her face. "Get everybody out of Sector 7, and could you do me a favor?"  
  
The flower girl nodded.  
  
"I have a bar around that corner. There's a little girl named Marlene there..."  
  
Aeris smiled. "Don't worry, I'll put her somewhere safe."  
  
Tifa smiled hopefully and sprinted up the tower in hopes of catching up with Cloud. She prayed that there was still time.  
  
"Don't worry!" Aeris called after her, "You let me handle this." She looked over to the bystanders looking up at the pillar in awe and disbelief. "It's dangerous here! Get out of Sector 7! The pillar's going to break!"  
  
A few people looked at her fearfully as the rest took off, and she smiled slightly, happy that they had listened to her. She glanced up at the figure of Tifa on the tower, and she ran around the corner hoping to find the bar Tifa was talking about.  
  
As she made it around the bend, a few little houses and buildings came into view, but only one of them looked distinctly like a bar. She ran toward it. A rickety old sign hanging above the door reading: "Tifa's Seventh Heaven" confirmed her idea.  
  
Aeris opened the door and began calling the girl's name. "Marlene? Marlene!! I'm a friend of Tifa! Please come out! It's dangerous here! Marlene?"  
  
After a few seconds, a little girl with dark brown hair emerged from behind the bar, clinging to a stuffed rabbit. "C'mon Marlene. I won't hurt you."  
  
Marlene looked at her and stood up, wiping her eyes. "You know Tifa?" She squeaked.  
  
Aeris smiled again. "Yes. Now c'mon, we have to get you out of here." The little girl nodded, and the flower girl scooped her up and ran out the door.  
  
"Do you know my daddy?"  
  
Aeris looked down at the girl, a bit confused. "Hmm?"  
  
"Do you know my daddy? He's Tifa's friend, too. And Cloud's. Except they fight a lot." She clung to Aeris jacket. "He went to fight at the pillar."  
  
Aeris' heart suddenly dropped, she hoped that Marlene wasn't referring to the man that had died at Cloud's feet. "What does your daddy look like?" She figured talking to her was the best thing to keep them both calm.  
  
"Well, he's big and strong and has really dark skin with a gun on his arm."  
  
Aeris smiled, happy that she hadn't described Wedge. "I'm sure he's fine. Does your dad fight a lot?"  
  
Marlene smiled. "Only the bad guys."  
  
Aeris passed through the alleyway that led out of Sector 7. 'Good, I can take her back home so Mom can help me...'  
  
~~~  
  
Cloud sprinted up the steps as quickly as he could, somewhere behind him, he could hear Tifa, but he didn't care. He leaned into a turn and ran right into the crumpled form of Biggs draped over the railing. Tifa came to a stop behind him.  
  
He was still alive, but barely. He looked the Ex-SOLDIER with clouded eyes. "So... you don't care... what happens... the planet?"  
  
Cloud shook his head, ignoring his question. Even though Cloud had seen many people killed before his eyes, and even though he had killed before, it really put him back into perspective when someone as young and selfless as Biggs was dying.  
  
Cloud put his hand on the younger man's shoulder to help him up, or at least put him in a more comfortable position. "You're wounded badly...." It was the only thing he could force out of his mouth. The arrogant and egotistical front he had created prompted him to say that he didn't care about the planet, but it was his own young pride that forced him to stay silent now, even as Tifa bit off a choked sob.  
  
Biggs remained focused on Cloud, and with as much sincerity as he could muster he tried to speak again. "T-thanks." He shuddered involuntarily. "Forget about me... Barett's at the top, and he needs help..." He was silent.  
  
Tifa tried as hard as she could to keep herself from crying, but it wasn't working. She watched, in desperation, as one of her best friends was dying at her feet. Just like Wedge had... 'Jessie!' She thought suddenly, and raced the stairs after Cloud.  
  
The mercenary turned a corner in the stairs and nearly trampled Jessie, who was lying on the cold metal, completely inert. "Jessie?" He propped her up, shaking her slightly, afraid he might injure her further.  
  
She slowly opened her eyes, and smiled faintly. " ...Cloud... I'm glad I could... talk to you, one... last time"  
  
"Jessie..." He and Tifa mumbled in unison.  
  
She feebly shook her head. "Many people were killed... in our bombing runs... this is my p-punishment.... And I will face it-" She coughed violently for a moment, and a few splatters of blood fell to her stained and torn shirt. "Without regrets...."  
  
She lay silent. Cloud listened for a tense moment and was immensely relieved to find that she was still breathing. He leaned her up against the wall very carefully, but when he pulled away his hands, all he could do was stare at them. They were covered in blood. The blood of a nineteen-year-old girl who fought for what she believed in... and now she was dying... on a cold metal staircase in the middle of Midgar's slums...  
  
He shook his head, trying to physically clear away all his thoughts of regrets. He briefly locked eyes with Tifa before he jumped up on the staircase again.  
  
Cloud bolted up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. He briefly wished he was a little taller, so he could jump more stairs at once, but the thought quickly vanished as he turned a corner and saw Barett, grinding his teeth as he fired endless bullets into some Robo-guards that were scaling the tower. One came up behind him and drew it's weapon, but before he had a chance to inflict pain on the unsuspecting man, Tifa shot a fire ball at it that disintegrated it on contact. The noise caused Barett to turn around.  
  
"Tifa! Cloud!" He shouted, obviously relieved, "You came!" They both ran over to him in hopes of taking out the rest of the guards. "Be careful," he warned. "They're faster and stronger than the ones we fought in the reactor."  
  
Just as the battle got underway, a helicopter roared overhead, and a figure in blue jumped out and landed before them with a thud. As he stood up, it was Reno, Cloud realized with a sudden drop to his stomach. The red-haired Turk ran over and set a mechanism on the side of the pillar, and mashed a few buttons. Cloud sprinted over with his sword brandished, but Reno still had time to be cocky. "You're too late. Once I push this button..." He jabbed a little red button and it beeped in response. "That's all folks," he grinned. "Mission accomplished."  
  
Tifa ran over and began to pound on the buttons. "We have to disarm it!!" She pleaded in a panic. "Cloud! Barett! Please!!"  
  
Reno suddenly grabbed Tifa's wrist and jerked her roughly from the bomb and closer to him. "I can't have you do that." His voice was eerily quiet and commanding. "No one will get in the way of me, or the rest of the Turks." He jerked her closer again, but this time he rammed his knee into her stomach, causing her to double over in pain.  
  
Cloud was immediately at her side, while Barett charged Reno, swearing violently. The Turk, although completely over-powered by the larger man, had the advantage due to his greater speed. Barett did what he could at his short range, swinging his good fist at an impressive speed. Reno easily dodged however, since a huge man with only one good hand had only so many pattern options. He sidestepped another heavy punch from Barett, and finally went on the offensive. He grabbed the nightstick from his holster and jabbed the bigger man in the stomach. Since the blunt weapon was electrified, Barett was knocked to the ground instantly, nearly unconscious. Reno smirked again, and was about to finish him off, when Cloud suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swung his sword with all the strength he could muster.  
  
Reno only felt his torso suddenly grow hot and he knew immediately that he had been hit, and the wound was incredibly deep. He frowned severely when he suddenly remembered that he had only brought a low-level healing materia with him. Quickly he cast the curing spell and decided it was time to go. He sprinted off to his right, but Tifa was waiting for him and unleashed a lightning fast barrage of punches. All of which, hit their mark.  
  
By this time, Reno knew that he was pretty much out of luck. He wiped a bit of blood off his cheek, smearing it in the process, as he stood up straight. He grinned sadistically at Tifa, even as she still stood in her fighting stance. "Sorry, babe." He said, still smiling evilly. "I promise I'll finish my fight with you next time." He finished his statement by vaulting over the side of the railing, completely disappearing from sight.  
  
Cloud shook his head, but then looked up urgently. "The bomb!"  
  
Tifa paled and ran over and tried to disarm it again. "I don't know how to stop it!" She called to the other two men. "Try it!"  
  
Cloud was already on his way over. As he examined the circuitry he moaned in despair. "This isn't a normal bomb...."  
  
She was about to reply when a sudden roaring overhead caused the three members to look up. It was a ShinRa military helicopter. A man with dark hair stepped onto the side, and called to them. "That's right. You'll have a hard time disarming that one! It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it!"  
  
Tifa pleaded with him futily, "Please!! Stop it!!"  
  
The man began laughing cruelly, instantly pissing off all three rebels. "Only a ShinRa Executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System."  
  
For the first time, Cloud noticed that he was a Turk; the blue suit was unmistakable. He squinted to get a better look at his face and he realized it was Tseng; the leader of the Turks.  
  
Barett interrupted the other man's train of thought loudly. "Shut yer fuckin' mouth!!" He opened fire on the chopper. Tseng remained calm and mocking the entire time.  
  
" I wouldn't try that if I were you... You just might make me injure our special guest."  
  
Cloud watched in unspoken horror as he noticed Aeris being held inside the helicopter. "Aeris!!" He and Tifa shouted in unison.  
  
Aeris looked down on the three of them, and started to struggle against the guards. She managed to break free long enough to run onto the side. Tseng suddenly reached out and grabbed her neck roughly, causing her to stop dead in her tracks. Tifa shouted her name again, but Tseng cut her off with his laughing. "Oh! You all know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me!"  
  
Cloud ran forward, desperate to save Aeris... "What are you gonna do to her!?" He shouted, utterly infuriated  
  
He shrugged his shoulders. "My orders were to capture the last remaining Ancient.... It's taken a very long time, but now I can finally report this to the President."  
  
Aeris began to struggle again and Tseng half released her throat. "Tifa!" She choked, tears filling her eyes from the pain in her neck and her own helplessness. "Don't worry!! She's all right!!"  
  
Tseng snarled and suddenly slapped Aeris roughly. She fell to the ground sobbing, and she heard her friends shout her name.  
  
The leader of the Turks laughed some more as the helicopter moved upwards and out of sight. Above them there was a massive explosion that sent bits of burning steel and concrete crashing down on the platform and the slums below.  
  
"The plate's coming down!!" Tifa shouted, the sheer amount of fear in her voice was enough to make Cloud wince and bite down on his own terror for her sake.  
  
"We gotta do something.... like NOW!!" He dodged out of the way of a flaming piece of concrete that was about the size of a small truck. They felt the entire structure shudder beneath their feet and the deafening whine of steel being warped from heat.  
  
"Yo!" Barett yelled from the other end of the platform. "Get over here! We can use this wire!"  
  
Cloud threw Tifa the most convincing look of comfort he could muster, given the circumstances. "It'll be okay..." He added a moment later as they ran up to Barett.  
  
Barett hopped onto the railing and grabbed a thick cable in his good hand. Tifa nodded silently to Cloud as she climbed in front of the bigger man and latched onto his other arm. As quick as he could the Ex-SOLDIER clambered onto Barett's shoulders. Cloud knew that Barett was insanely strong but he still wondered how long he could hold himself and two other adults completely on his own strength. He couldn't help but close his eyes after the bigger man leaned back the jumped forward.  
  
The deafening roar was heard seconds after as the Pillar and the Plate came crashing down, killing countless innocents.  
  
Several kilometers away... another person witnessed the destruction of Sector 7 and the plate above it. But unlike anyone else in Midgar, he was the one who had ordered it to happen.  
  
The President smirked again and turned to finish some paperwork that was waiting for him at his oversized desk. 


	8. Chapter 7: The Tip of an Iceberg

Their speed was mind numbing. The wind screamed past, as did debris and building materials. Barett gripped the cable with his good hand as tight as he could. His palm was beginning to sweat and the additional weight of Tifa and Cloud was taking its toll.  
  
"Goddammit!" He swore, "I can't hold it!"  
  
Tifa had never been a religious woman, but she found herself praying madly to whatever powers were listening. She could feel Cloud's shin close to her face, and she started to feel calmer... at least she could die next to the man who had haunted her thoughts for almost eight years.  
  
"The gate!"  
  
Tifa snapped out of her thoughts. The Sector 7 gates were right in front of them and the tsunami of destruction was closing in. Barett strained to cling to the wire while Tifa and Cloud simultaneously gasped and held their breath.  
  
The second they cleared the gate, Barett's strength failed, and the three rebels were sent sailing across the ground. A thunderous explosion rocked the sheer earth and Barett, Cloud, and Tifa turned just it time to witness the top plate smash into the slums.  
  
Death.  
  
Not a breath of a word was shared between the comrades for a long while. Cloud shut his eyes and turned away from the gate, putting his arm around Tifa's shoulder. She inhaled loudly and began to cry. Cloud welcomed the distraction and did what he could to comfort her. He was about to say something to Barett when he turned and saw the man.  
  
"No..." He barely breathed it. His dark eyes wide with disbelief and his face smudged with dirt and tears. "Marlene..."  
  
Cloud reached out a gloved hand tentatively.  
  
"Marlene!!" Louder this time.  
  
"Hey... Barett..." Cloud was about to touch the larger man's shoulder.  
  
Suddenly the dark man's shoulders hitched and he yelled so desperately and loudly that it shocked his other two companions. "MARLENE!!" With surprising speed, he shot off to the blocked gate as fast as he could. He pushed frantically on parts of the pillar and plate, trying to get back into the destroyed sector. "Biggs!" The tears were falling freely now as he started moving pieces of debris that were as big as he was. "Wedge!" With strength born of rage and anguish he threw a massive chunk of concrete out of the way. "Jessie!!" The rate of his digging slowed dramatically as he inhaled and exhaled deeply. Sinking to his knees, he bowed his head to rest on a protruding I-beam. "God dammit." He punched the metal half-heartedly before he got a second wind and began wailing on the cold metal.  
  
Cloud and Tifa stood nearby, too saddened and sympathetic to do anything for the older man.  
  
"GOD DAMN IT!!" His good fist smashed into the metal, tearing at the skin of his knuckles. "DAMMIT!" Again he hit the metal. His left hand was bleeding freely. "DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!" He finally stopped his tirade but the emotions within him were still not pacified. "What the hell is it all for!?" He let out an inhuman scream of sheer emotion that echoed loudly off the debris and alleyways.  
  
Cloud, unable to stand by any longer, slowly moved to his side, and Tifa mimicked him. "Barett..." He and Tifa spoke his name at the same time.  
  
Anger.  
  
Rage.  
  
Death.  
  
He shot to his feet and jammed a clip of ammunition into his gun. Irate, he emptied the bullets at the pile of scrap metal in front of him. He continued firing. He swept over the wreckage until the weapon ceased to fire. The ammunition clip was empty and discarded shells littered the ground at his feet. The large man let out another inhuman howl of burning rage and grief. His daughter... his friends... his makeshift family and his comrades... they were all gone. Forever. His knees gave out underneath him.  
  
"Barett!"  
  
He barely heard the youth beside him.  
  
"Barett... stop. Please, stop... Barett."  
  
He heard the gentle voice of Tifa... at least she was still with him. She was like a sister and he loved her as family. Tifa was all he had. He turned his head to her, eyes still tearing. "Tifa...they're gone."  
  
She reached out and touched her hand to skin on his face. "It's okay... I'm here... Cloud's here, too. We'll figure everything out."  
  
Cloud, feeling embarrassed and suddenly closer to the two rebels, put a supportive hand on Barett's shoulder.  
  
"God damn..." He muttered, and let his bloody fist hit the ground.  
  
"Marlene..." Barett whispered again from his seat on a piece of loose metal.  
  
Tifa wrung her hands nervously, a habit she had picked up recently. "Barett? Marlene is... I think Marlene is safe."  
  
He looked up slowly and turned towards her. "What?" He was brimming with hope and even Cloud found himself hopeful.  
  
The young martial artist continued. "Right before they took Aeris, she said 'don't worry, she's all right.' Before we fought Reno, I had asked her to find Marlene."  
  
Barett bolted to his feet. "R-really?" He asked, barely able to keep his voice steady.  
  
"But..." Tifa turned away, her eyes tearing up again. Her family... her friends... her comrades.  
  
Barett understood. "Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie."  
  
Cloud sighed. "All three of them were on the pillar when it fell."  
  
I bit of the old Barett returned when he snapped irritably, "Think I don't know that?" He turned his back to them. "But we all fought together... as comrades."  
  
Cloud was suddenly amazed at how close he felt to the older man suddenly. He secretly loved Tifa for so many years and even though they were only friends, he felt a deep connection between them. With Barett's last comment he felt that he could almost look to the older man as some kind of uncle. At that moment, the young SOLDIER felt the three of them could take on the world alone. They would have to do exactly that.  
  
"I don't want to think of them as dead." He continued.  
  
"Or the other people of Sector 7," Tifa added solemnly.  
  
The rage flooded back to the dark-skinned man. "This is all so screwed up! They destroy an entire village just to get six people! They killed so many!" He shook his head.  
  
"Are you saying," Tifa's eyebrows knitted with emotion, "That this is our fault? Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocents were killed because of us?"  
  
He shook his head again, vehemently. "No, Tifa! That ain't it! Hell no!" His voice grew in volume. "It ain't us! It's the damned ShinRa! It's never been nobody but the ShinRa!" He threw his arms up in frustration. "They're evil and destroyin' our planet just to line their own damn pockets with gold! If we don't get rid of them, they're gonna kill this planet!" He whirled to face her. "Our fight ain't never gonna be over 'til we get rid of them!"  
  
"I don't know..." She turned to look at him.  
  
"What don't you know!?" His voice grew angrier. "You don't believe me?"  
  
"It's not that," she amended. "I'm not sure about ... me. My feelings."  
  
Barett, frustrated, turned to Cloud. "An' what about you?"  
  
The young man didn't reply, but simply left towards the gate to Sector Six.  
  
"Yo!" He turned back to Tifa. "Where's he think he's going?"  
  
Tifa's hand shot to her forehead. "Oh! Aeris!"  
  
"Oh yeah, that girl. What's her deal?"  
  
Her amber eyes looked pained for a split second before she answered vaguely. "I don't really know... but she's the one I left Marlene with.  
  
"Damn. Marlene!" He moved after Cloud's retreating form, but not before he shot a glance back to the girl. "Tifa, there ain't no turnin' back now."  
  
She started to follow him as well, but she gave one last pained look at the Sector 7 she hoped to never see again. She trotted after Barett and Cloud hoping to solve some questions.  
  
Guilt.  
  
That was Cloud's main emotion at the time. He tried so hard to be stoic and detached, but his attempts had failed sorely. Aeris... he let them take her, and after Barett's breakdown, how could he not feel guilt? He never imaged what the older man would look like full of despair and grief, and he never wanted to see it again. Tifa had been crushed by the loss of her comrades and Cloud didn't even deserve to be near her, but he had seen her cry. Aeris' tears of pain... and the tears of loss that Tifa and Barett shared... he hated himself beyond words. It was his fault. He was unable to do anything.  
  
"Cloud!"  
  
He turned to see Barett and Tifa run up to him. The former AVALANCHE leader did not meet his eyes. "Take me to Marlene."  
  
"Are you going to help Aeris?" Tifa looked at him, still shaken.  
  
"Yeah... But before that, there's something I want to know."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's about the Ancients." He admitted. He was about to clarify further when, for a split second, his vision went white and powerful echo raced through his mind.  
  
In my veins courses the blood of the Ancients. I am one of the rightful heirs to this planet.  
  
It stopped as suddenly as it had started but it left Cloud with a feeling of oblivion, then suddenly, like an old memory, nearly gone, something resurfaced. "Sephiroth..." Still unstable, the young man stumbled forward and fell to his knees.  
  
Tifa stepped up quickly, with a supportive arm on his shoulders. "Are you all right?"  
  
Barett, slightly less emotional, voiced his own concern. "Pull it together, man!"  
  
He wobbled to his feet, turning red from the closeness he and Tifa shared. "There's one other thing... Can I think of you as friends? After I failed at the pillar?"  
  
Tifa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Cloud, we've always been friends." Her heart skipped a beat, even in the midst of so much destruction, his hopeful stare was sending shivers up her spine. "Of course you can think of me as your friend and comrade."  
  
Barett, dropping his tough-act for once, also agreed. "You did all you could, kid. We all did. Yer a pain in the ass, sometimes, but I still consider you a friend. You can do the same for me."  
  
The walk to Aeris' house was short, but painful. The three remaining members of AVALANCHE passed many people who heard the explosions or saw the actual collapse of the pillar. The residents of Midgar were shaken badly and the very person they looked to for help was the very source of the problem.  
  
They walked in silence, Cloud leading the way. Aeris' house, nestled in the cozy corner behind a weapons trailer, looked appealing and inviting from the outside, but Cloud sensed a certain chill to the dark wood frame. He apprehensively made his way to the front door and knocked tentatively. The older woman, Elmyra, answered the door. She seemed welcoming, but very sad.  
  
She already knew.  
  
Elmyra ushered the three rag-tags into her kitchen and placed a kettle of water on the stove for tea. "Cloud... was it?" She turned to look at the young man standing awkwardly next to her table.  
  
"Yes. Cloud Strife." He said politely, not wanting to appear rude to Aeris' obviously worried mother.  
  
She smiled thinly. "It's about Aeris, isn't it?"  
  
The young man nodded grimly. "... Sorry. The ShinRa have her.  
  
"I know," she wrung her hands is worry. "They took her from here." She seemed resigned and very much aware of Aeris' current danger.  
  
Cloud's blonde eyebrows furrowed. "They were here?"  
  
"That's what she wanted."  
  
He could not keep his next inquiry silent any longer. The question had bothered him greatly. "Why is the ShinRa after Aeris?"  
  
The older woman turned around, obviously troubled. "Aeris... is an Ancient. The sole survivor of a lost race."  
  
Barett's leaned forward in interest and confusion, "But aren't you her mother?"  
  
Elmyra shook her head sadly, her graying hair, woven into a loose bun, swayed slightly. "I'm not her real mother." She sighed, "Oh... it must have been fifteen years ago... during the war." Judging by the concerned looks on the faces of the three in front of her, she decided to continue. "My husband was sent to the front. To some far away place called Wutai." The kettle started to whistle, so she moved it off the burner and went to retrieve some coffee mugs. "One day, I went to the train station because I had got a letter saying he was coming home on leave." She selected a set of four simply decorated cups and poured the tea into each. "I wanted to see him so badly... but he didn't arrive home on the scheduled day... or the day after." She handed Tifa a white mug adorned with a painting of a rose. "My husband never came back. I wondered if something happened to him." Cloud received a mug with bright chrysanthemums. "No, I was certain his leave was just canceled. I went to the station every day." Barett took a cup with white lilies painted on the handle. "Then, one day I saw a woman lying on the steps to the platform, and a little girl next to her crying. I ran over to try and help, the poor girl was nearly hysterical and the mother was not going to last long. You used to see this sort of thing a lot during the war."  
  
The silence from the younger people in front of her was thick, and they seemed very drawn into her story. "Her last words were: 'Please take Aeris somewhere safe'. My husband never returned and I had no children. I was lonely, so I decided to take her home with me. Aeris and I became close very quickly. That child loved to talk. She used to talk to me about everything. She told me she escaped from some sort of research laboratory somewhere, and that her mother had already returned to the Planet, so she wasn't lonely... and many other things."  
  
Barett handled his mug carefully as he set it down on the dark wood table. "Returned to the Planet?"  
  
The older woman nodded. "I didn't know what she meant. I asked if she meant like a star in the sky, but she said it was this Planet. She was a mysterious child in many ways."  
  
"How else was she unique?" Tifa asked, decided at the last second that 'unique' would be a less offensive choice for 'different'.  
  
"One day," Elmyra answered, "She walked down the stairs while I was reading the paper, and told me not to cry. She just blurted it out all of a sudden. When I asked if something had happened she said that someone dear to me had just died. She told me that his spirit was coming to see me, but he already returned to the planet. At that time, I didn't believe her, but..." She paused, old pain visibly resurfacing. "Several days later... we received notice that my husband had died in combat."  
  
The AVALANCHE members sat in disbelief and empathy. "I'm sorry you went through that." Tifa offered meekly.  
  
Elmyra smiled sadly, but warmly. "That's how it was. A lot had happened, but we were happy. Well, until the day that the ShinRa found her. The leader of that elite assassination organization, Tseng, came to our house. He asked me to return Aeris, and that they've been looking for her for a long time. Despite what he was asking, I knew he was good man working for bad people." Cloud scoffed, winning a death-glare from Tifa. Elmyra didn't seem to hear him. "He always told me that Aeris was a special child, that she was an Ancient. He said that Aeris could make all the people in the slums happy by leading the ShinRa to the Promised Land, something that the Ancients had the innate ability to do. Aeris always denied it, and Tseng would leave, only to come back the next week and ask again. Sometimes he asked if she ever heard voices, but Aeris denied that, too. I knew, though. I knew about her powers. She tried so hard to hide it, so I acted as though I never noticed.  
  
Cloud ran a hand through his unkempt blond hair. "It's amazing how she's avoided the ShinRa and the Turks for all these years."  
  
Tifa, her chin resting on her hand, made an expression of confusion. "But why now?"  
  
"She brought a little girl here with her. On the way, Tseng caught them and Aeris cooperated in exchange for the little girl's safety." Elmyra replied.  
  
Barett's eyes widened. "Marlene!! Aeris got captured because of Marlene?" When he noticed Elmyra's questioning gaze, he averted his eyes. "I'm sorry, Marlene is my daughter. I'm really sorry."  
  
The woman appeared shocked for a moment, before suddenly becoming very angry. "You're her father?! How in the world can you leave a child alone like that!?"  
  
Cloud and Tifa looked at Barett, unconsciously interested in his reaction. "Please, don't start with that." He sincerely looked sorry. "I think about it all the time. What would happen to Marlene if..." He neglected to finish his statement. "But you gotta understand somethin'. I don't got an answer. I wanna be with Marlene, but I gotta fight, 'cause if I don't the Planet's gonna die. So I'm gonna keep fighting. But I'm worried 'bout Marlene. I really just wanna be with her always." He sighed. "See? Goin' in circles."  
  
Elmyra thought for a moment, but then her expression softened. "I think I understand what you're saying. She's upstairs asleep, if you want to see her."  
  
Barett left immediately. Tifa watched his retreating form and attempted to rub away some stress and tension by massaging her temples. "It's my fault... I was the one who got Aeris involved in this."  
  
Elmyra, thankfully, comforted her. Cloud was so awkward around her anyway, and he was already upset and distracted over today's events. "By the way, Cloud?"  
  
He looked up, his amazingly clear blue eyes refracting all light. "Yes?"  
  
"You and the others are welcome to stay the night."  
  
"Thank you very much." He politely shook her hand and went to go see Barett and his daughter. The stairs creaked as he stepped up them, suddenly wondering how many times Aeris had moved up these stairs. In another world, Cloud knew he would've fallen for her the first time their eyes had met. But in reality, his heart belonged to another. Even if she thought he was pathetic and worthless, he would never be able to love another. No. Now was not the time to get caught up in his usual self loathing and doubt. Not when so much was just barely ahead of him. He promised to flog himself later.  
  
Barett's gruff voice reached his ears as he made it to the top step. He wasn't able to make out what was said, so he continued closer to the room from which the voices were echoing. "I'm so glad... I'm so glad you're all right."  
  
A little girl's voice, Marlene's, piped up. "Daddy, don't cry. Your whiskers hurt!"  
  
Cloud, suddenly reminded of Barett's breakdown at the gate, knocked on the door to talk to his friend. He could hear the large man shifting around and the door opened slightly.  
  
"What's up, Cloud?" It was almost impossible to tell if he had been crying. "You gonna go help Aeris right?"  
  
"Yeah, I wanted to ask if you were going." The last thing Cloud wanted to do was force the newly reunited father and daughter apart after so much worry.  
  
Barett scratched his beard. "She's done so much for me. If it's the ShinRa you're dealing with, I can't jes' sit here. So yeah, I'll go."  
  
Marlene poked her head out from behind Barett's massive leg. "Guess what! Guess what!"  
  
Cloud never felt particularly fond of children and didn't feel up to playing the little girl's guessing games. He looked at her quizzically, however, when he thought Barett might try to do to him if he responded rudely.  
  
"Aeris was asking me lots of questions, like what kind of person you were! I bet she likes you, Cloud!"  
  
Cloud sighed. "I don't think so, Marlene."  
  
Barett smirked knowingly, and Marlene frowned. "Stupid!"  
  
Elmyra knocked on the door frame just then, and the three looked up at her. "Before you leave, you should at least rest up a bit... I only have two spare beds though."  
  
Tifa, who had come up behind her, looked questioningly at Barett and Cloud. "How do you wanna work that?"  
  
"You and Marlene can have the beds." Barett offered, waiting to see Cloud's, hopefully irritated, reaction. The other man didn't react.  
  
Tifa and Marlene got ready for bed quickly. Marlene changed into an oversized shirt, scavenged from Elmyra's closet, and Tifa only stripped herself of her steel plated boots, gloves, and her leather belt and suspenders before sitting down on the clean bed.  
  
As she lay down, she could hear her spine and shoulders crack in protest. Once comfortably, however, she immediately relaxed and listened to the sounds that surrounded the house. Sirens could still be heard in all directions, looking and helping the injured. Once again, the tears threatened to come. But she held them back, reminding herself that she had to be strong.  
  
She noticed Marlene's steady rate of breathing and assumed the poor little girl was asleep. Tifa didn't think she ever become more scarred than she already was, but today's events had proved her wrong. She remembered seeing Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, hurt and dying on the pillar. All she wanted to do was break down and cry. She wanted to wail and sob until her throat bled, but she knew she had to be strong and endure it. For the sake of Barett and Marlene she had to endure it. For the Aeris' sake, and for Cloud's sake.  
  
Dammit. No matter what happened or how serious it was, her thoughts and emotions were always dragged back to him. No. She wouldn't be tormented by her insecurities either. Tomorrow, she would prove her worth to Cloud, Aeris, Barett, and more importantly, herself.  
  
* * * *  
  
The next morning the remainder of AVALANCHE, Marlene, and Elmyra sat around the heavy kitchen table savoring a meager breakfast of tea, bread, fruit preserves, and a few slices of meat.  
  
Tifa, still bent on her silent vow from the night before, looked at Cloud questioningly. "You're going to get Aeris right?"  
  
"Yeah." He nodded from behind his tea mug.  
  
"I'm going with you." She mistook his concerned expression for an expression of skeptical tolerance. The look only furthered her determination.  
  
"We're going right into the ShinRa Headquarters; you gotta be prepared for the worst." He nervously twitched his leg, he would much rather not involve Tifa any farther, but he needed all the help he could get.  
  
"I know, Cloud," She said, locking eye contact. "Right now, I feel I have to push myself to the limit. If I stayed here I'd go crazy."  
  
Cloud nodded and Tifa seemed satisfied.  
  
After breakfast, Barett looked to Elmyra. "Sorry, Elmyra. Is 'dere anyway I can ask you to take care of Marlene for me?"  
  
"Yes," She nodded, "I don't mind."  
  
"Midgar is gettin' dangerous. You better go somewhere else." He warned.  
  
"I know." She seemed sad, but she had a look of determination in her eyes. "But promise me you'll come back to her. Don't get yourself killed."  
  
"Thank you." Barett's voice was full of genuine emotion. "Bye, Marlene. Give Daddy a hug."  
  
The little girl flew to his arms and latched onto the big man. "Bye, Daddy!"  
  
AVALANCHE headed out the door of the quaint little house and began walking out towards Sector 6. "How do we get to the ShinRa Building?" Tifa asked.  
  
Barett shrugged. "There ain't no train that goes up 'dere anymore. The main entrance is on the plate above Wall Market, though."  
  
"Well," Cloud put in. "Why don't we go there and see what we can climb up?" 


	9. Chapter 8: Infiltration

The three comrades walked towards Wall Market, the sirens having calmed from the plate crash the night before. Barett, uncharacteristically subdued, set about tuning and adjusting his gun-arm. Tifa walked softly and gracefully, seemingly oblivious to the extra weight of her steel-plated boots.  
  
Cloud was a different story, his eyes were bloodshot and he had thick circles under his eyes. Even his normally spikey hair was limp with water from his shower, giving him the illusion of being extremely worn out. He walked on, though, until a figure bumped into him from behind. Before he could really react, the person snatched the blonde man's coin purse.  
  
Two more came up quickly and robbed Tifa. A fatal error was made on one of the thug's part when he decided to cop a feel of Tifa's chest. No sooner had he grabbed with his dirty hand, the young woman snatched his thick wrist, slipped under his arm, and pulled. There was a sickening pop, and the thug screamed. Not being it the best of moods, she yanked again and was rewarded with a snap and another scream. His arm went limp, broken in two spots.  
  
Cloud, infuriated that someone would disgrace Tifa so, kicked the man in the chest as the young martial artist released her hold. The robber fell back, and as his shoulders hit the ground, Cloud's wide blade bit through the flesh of his stomach. He screamed for several seconds, before gurgling and choking on his own blood.  
  
The remaining two thugs had Barrett to contend with. He easily beat up the first, retrieving Tifa's money, and had thrown the second one into the dirt at gunpoint. Both watched in silence, as Cloud had brutally murdered the first. Tifa and Barett were very much surprised at Cloud's visciousness, never really thinking he would be one to be so bloodthirsty.  
  
The young man seemed to realize what he had just done at that moment and looked up from the corpse with wide blue eyes.  
  
Just then, the remaining thug leapt to his feet and sunk a small flip-knife deep into Barett's shoulder. He roared in pain and threw him back to the ground, once again training his gun at the man's chest. He fired, but the gun did not respond, only clicked oddly. "Dammit!" The dark man scoffed as he fiddled with the gun for a second. The thug wisely took this moment to quickly make his escape, leaving Cloud's money out of fear of pursuit.  
  
"I need to stop at a fucking weapons shop now!" Barett fumed. "Goddammit!"  
  
Tifa and Cloud paid him no heed, Tifa was too shocked from Cloud's lack of restraint, and Cloud himself was busy staring at the blood rolling slowly off his silver blade. "Cloud," Tifa touched his arm. "Its okay let's keep going."  
  
"I didn't mean to," He looked at her, like a small child about to face punishment. "Tifa, I-"  
  
She reddened, his look of insecurity touched her. "It's okay, Cloud." She stepped closer to hug him awkwardly. "Thanks for protecting me."  
  
"I never thought I could kill someone like that." He sighed, hugging her back. She was such a good friend.  
  
Barett, as hardened and as worldly as ever, piped up. "You better get used to it, Spike." Cloud frowned at the nickname. "Kill or be killed, y'know."  
  
Cloud and Tifa broke apart and followed the angry Barett through the alleyway to Wall Market. They noted that there was considerably less traffic than the last time they had been there. "I need to replace this gun," Barett grumbled. "Let's go to the weapons store."  
  
"Afraid to go alone?" Cloud jeered, happy to pick fights with the older man. He was also trying to clear his mind, and pissing Barett off would help distract him.  
  
"You little shit! Hell no!" He whirled on Cloud and the two stood chest to chest. "I thought it would be best for us to move in a group."  
  
"Shut up, both of you." Tifa called from behind her shoulder, she was already walking towards the weapons shop.  
  
They gave each other pointed looks and continued after her. The weapons store was tiny, the three of them barely fit. As Barett haggled over the price of his equipment, Cloud and Tifa discussed ideas for the plate. The shopkeeper's assistant, leaned over the counter towards them. "A buncha debris fell in the alley behind this store, you could probably climb it all the way to the top."  
  
They looked at him quizzically. "Really?" Cloud put in.  
  
"Yeah, go see for yourselves."  
  
They thanked the man as Barett turned, grimacing. As they left, he grumbled about the outrageous pricing, and began bolting the new gun to his arm. "So, what's the plan, Spike?"  
  
Cloud bristled at his new nickname, but responded snidely, "There's debris back here," he turned the corner, and sure enough, there was stacks of debris piled all the way to the plate.  
  
The two men followed the pile all the way up. Tifa had already begun to climb, they noticed, when they looked back down, and they hurried to catch up with her. It was slow going, but they made it to the top. Barett was especially slow because he only had one good hand to work with. After nearly two hours of straight vertical climbing, they stood on the plate, and gazed at the star-filled night sky.  
  
"Damn, man." Barett breathed. "I haven't seen the sky in so long."  
  
Tifa nodded. "I know what you mean."  
  
Cloud was about to say something when he realized that he couldn't remember when he last saw the sky either. Just before he came to Midgar, probably. But when was that? How long HAD he been in Midgar? He suddenly couldn't remember. A splitting force made itself know in his mind. He gripped his temples in pain and sank to his knees. Tifa immediately rushed to his side, worry written all over her face.  
  
"Cloud? Are you okay?"  
  
"Ugn... yeah I'm fine." He stood, and brushed himself off.  
  
Barett ignored his mental episode, and looked at the huge ShinRa building. "Hey, you oughta know this place pretty well, huh?"  
  
"No," Cloud answered, "This is the first time I've been to the headquaters."  
  
"I heard about this place before." Barett said, "Every floor above the 60th is special and not easy to get to, even for employees. Must be where they took Aeris." He looked around. "The security's pretty light now. Alright, let's go!!" He started to move forward, but Tifa grabbed his arm.  
  
"Wait, you're not actually going to walk right through the front door, are you?" She furrowed her brows in disbelief.  
  
"Well, what's it look like, Tifa?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna kick some ShinRa ass, and-"  
  
"Through the main entrance?" She almost shouted incredulously. "Barett, they'll kill you before we even find Aeris!"  
  
"There ain't no other way!"  
  
Cloud shook his head. "How else can we get it?"  
  
The stairs.  
  
"Oh yeah," Cloud shook his head. "There are stairs over here somewhere. It's a maintenance entrance or something."  
  
They both looked at him oddly but followed him down an adjacent alley. Sure enough there was an unlocked door that led to a staircase. Cloud peered up between the flights, but couldn't distinguish the top  
  
Barett frowned, "Yo... You really gonna take these stairs all the way up?"  
  
"Well," Tifa sighed, "We've got to get to Aeris to help her somehow."  
  
"Talk about out of the way..." the dark man groaned.  
  
"I don't have time to argue with you! I'm going!" Tifa spat, tired of fighting with him.  
  
"Yo, Tifa! Don't go off alone!" He followed her, taking the stairs two at a time.  
  
After a short while, Barett was breathing heavily and had started taking the stairs one at a time. "Don't know... why the hell... we gotta climb..."  
  
Cloud, ahead of the other two, was still climbing at a quick pace. "Because we don't want to start a commotion until we've saved Aeris." He frowned, the added, "I doubt that's possible though..."  
  
Barett snickered to himself, annoying Cloud further. "Knock it off. You're giving me the creeps."  
  
Through his breathing, Barett managed a smug smile. "So even you will fight for someone else. I had you figured wrong I guess."  
  
Cloud didn't see Tifa's hurt face, but kept looking straight ahead. "Who cares what you figured!"  
  
"I'm just sayin' mebbe I was wrong..."  
  
Tifa laughed despite her hurt feelings; Barett had actually admitted he was wrong.  
  
Cloud continued jumping up the stairs, leaving a good sized gap between he and Tifa, and Barett behind her.  
  
"What's so funny, Tifa?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Barett had taken to whining to pass the time after a few minutes. "How much farther do these stairs go on?"  
  
Tifa sighed, also beginning to breath heavily. "Why don't you ask them?"  
  
"It's not one of them endless stairways or somethin', d'ya think?"  
  
"Of course not!!" Tifa shouted in annoyance. He could be such a kid sometimes.  
  
"Right... couldn't be that... Are we there yet?"  
  
"Not yet." Cloud grumbled.  
  
"...there yet?"  
  
"I said not yet!"  
  
"Yo..."  
  
Tifa almost turned around to slap him, he was being so obnoxious. "Look, don't even ask! We're way way way way far away from being there, ok!?"  
  
Barett stopped climbing for a moment. "Damn, man! I've had it! I'm going back!"  
  
"And take just as long going down as you did coming up?" Tifa's own calves were burning, and her lungs wanted to explode, but she kept moving upwards.  
  
Barett didn't reply, but he stopped for a moment to catch his breath.  
  
"C'mon, Barret. Pull it together!" Tifa called.  
  
"Yeah, well all I know is I'm just flesh 'n' blood.... 'cept for this arm of mine. Don't treat me like I'm some ex-member of SOLDIER or somethin'!" He shouted in defense.  
  
"What about me!? I'm human too! Oh, do what you want, I'm going on!" Even as she said this, she stopped to lean against the hand rail to breath for a moment.  
  
Cloud stopped and waited for them.  
  
"Yo... What floor is this?"  
  
"I gave up counting." Tifa admitted, wiping sweat from her brow.  
  
"Why they gotta build these buildings so damn tall? That ShinRa... they're just no damn good."  
  
Tifa didn't reply.  
  
Barett followed her, wheezing the entire way. Sweat was pouring down his dark forehead, and his chest was heaving up and down. "Man, I'm beat..." He feigned praying for a moment. "Marlene, Daddy wanted to see your face one more time..."  
  
Tifa, now thoroughly annoyed, stopped to glare at him. "Would you stop acting like a retard and climb? It's just a bit more! I hope."  
  
They wheeled around to the next flight of stairs, and almost directly into Cloud, who was standing impatiently in front of a door. "F-finally m-made it..." Barett wheezed. N-never wanna see... no more stairs the rest of my life."  
  
"This really takes it out of you..." She was also panting, and wondered for a moment how Cloud wasn't dripping with sweat. "But this is it. We'd better get ready!" The blonde man opened the door and walked out nonchalantly, followed by Tifa and then Barett.  
  
Sometime later they came out of the elevator on the sixty-sixth floor. As they passed along the wall, Cloud stopped in his tracks. A small lanky man in a white labcoat walked towards the main room of the floor.  
  
Hojo.  
  
Cloud's head suddenly split with pain, he almost blacked out, but he managed to stand and not attract attention to himself. "That's Hojo," he said a moment later, "The head of the ShinRa Science and Research Department. He's a sick bastard." As the man walked into the conference room, the powered doors slid shut behind him.  
  
"What do you think he was doing?" Tifa asked tentatively.  
  
"You didn't know?"  
  
The three of them whirled to see a young female in a business suit behind them. "All the ShinRa bigwigs are getting together for an executive meeting."  
  
Tifa attempted to act calm. "Oh, I wasn't informed."  
  
"Yeah, they don't ever tell anyone, but you can usually hear bits of their meetings in the bathroom, so I like to eavesdrop every time and again." She popped her chewing gum loudly. She glanced at her watch, "'Scuse me, hon. Lunch is almost over."  
  
The woman left and the three rebels exhaled in relief simotaneously. "The bathroom, huh?" Barett asked. "Let's go."  
  
They crossed the hallway and found the bathrooms, and they discovered that they were unisex restrooms. They were all a little thankful, wondering how they might explain an embarrassing situation.  
  
They could hear, as the secretary had said, traces of voices coming from the vent above one of the toilets. "Let's go," Cloud nodded, and he hopped onto the toilet seat. Carefully, he moved the ventilation cover up and over, allowing him to clamber into the duct. Tifa and Barett followed suit.  
  
Only a small bit down the duct, they passed another vent, through which they could see a long table occupied by several ShinRa heads in suits. These included President ShinRa and Hojo.  
  
A man with slicked back hair and a goatee, was shuffling through a stack of paper. "We have the damage estimates for Sector 7. Considering the factories we already set up and all other investments, the damage is estimated at approximately ten billion gil." He put the papers on the table dejectedly. "The estimated cost of rebuilding Sector 7 is-"  
  
The president cut him off. "We're not rebuilding."  
  
"What?" The goateed man looked utterly shocked.  
  
"We're leaving Sector 7 as it is, and restarting the Neo-Midgar plan." He said, quite tersely.  
  
"Then the Ancients-?"  
  
"Yes, Reeve, the Promised Land will soon be ours." The president affirmed.  
  
As Cloud looked on, he was suddenly able to name everyone in the room. Unsure of where the memory had come from he looked at the different faces. Reeve, the head of Urban Developement, was the goateed man. To his right, Palmer, the head of the Space Pogram. Then Heidegger, Public Safety Maintenance, followed by Hojo, and then Scarlet, the head of Weapons Development.  
  
"Also," The president said, "I want you to raise the mako-production levels in each reactor fifteen percent."  
  
Palmer, a short, fat, bald man perked up considerably in his chair. "Rate hike! Rate hike!" He performed a little dance. "Please include the space program, sir!"  
  
ShinRa ignored him. "Reeve and Scarlet will divide up the extra income from the rate increase."  
  
Palmer flopped back into his chair. "Oh man."  
  
Reeve was busy shuffling through his papers again. "Sir, with all due respect, if you raise the rates, the citizens will lose faith."  
  
"It'll be alright," the president sighed dismissivly. "The ignorant citizens won't lose confidence, they'll trust ShinRa Inc. even more."  
  
Heidegger laughed loud and heartily. "After all, sir, we saved Sector 7 from AVALANCHE!" He laughed again.  
  
In the duct, Barett growled. "That dirty fucker."  
  
Back in the conference room, Hojo placed a red binder on the table. ShinRa directed his attention to the scientist. "Hojo, how's the girl?"  
  
The pale man looked at the fat president over his delicate eyeglasses. "As a specimen, she is far inferior to her mother. I'm still in the process of comparing her to her mother, Ilfana, but for now, the difference is above eighteen percent."  
  
"How long will the research take?"  
  
"More than twice the speciman's life expectancy." He sighed heavily. "It would be almost impossible to complete in one lifetime." He pulled a paper out of the binder and passed it down to the president. "I'm thinking of breeding her. That way, we would have a specimen that would withstand extensive testing and research longer than the original."  
  
"What about the Promised Land?" The president raised a gray-blond eyebrow. "Won't it hinder our plans?"  
  
"That's what I'm calculating right now," he said, annoyance evident in his dark eyes. "The girl is strong, but I'm sure she has her weaknesses."  
  
The overweight president nodded. "That concludes our meeting." The employees stood and dispersed. After they had left the room, the rebels looked amongst each other, and sighed. They were in the middle of something much bigger than they had anticipated. Something in which Aeris held the key.  
  
"They were talking about Aeris, weren't they?" Cloud scratched his head, unsure of what to do.  
  
Barett shrugged. "I dunno."  
  
Tifa absently scratched her arm. "Probably."  
  
"Let's follow them. Maybe we'll find Aeris that way." Cloud waited for Tifa and Barett to exit the duct before following close behind them. They walked back out to the hall, just as the hunched form of Hojo turned the corner.  
  
They followed him, Cloud leading the way, staying out of sight. Hojo went to the stairwell, and disappeared from sight as he entered the door to the sixty-seventh floor. Dashing up the stairs, they made it to the door before it locked them out. 


	10. Chapter 9: Unknown Depth

Barett, Tifa, and Cloud crouched noislessly behind a stack of crates in Hojo's laboratory. In the center of the room, a large glass tube served as a holding cage for some large, catlike beast. It had seen them enter, as well as hide, but remained laying in the far side, apathetically flicking its tail once in a while. Two employees entered at that moment walking up the clear glass, Hojo himself trailing wordlessly behind them.  
  
"Is this today's experiment?" One of the younger employees asked.  
  
"Yes," Hojo confirmed, "Raise it to the upper level." As the two escorts left, Hojo placed his two boney hands on the glass. "My precious experiment." For some reason, the beast in captivity, stood and began pacing back and forth at the far side. A dangerous growl could be heard through the glass crystal clear glass. Smirking, the frail man turned and left.  
  
As the door closed, Tifa stood and approached the cage, where the beast had sat back down. "Precious specimen? Is it going to be used in a biological experiment?"  
  
Cloud ignored her, and scanned the room. Nothing of interest caught his gaze until his oceanic eyes wandered over a steel dome in the corner of the room. The label scrawled along the top of the door sent a shiver and a pang of immense fear through Cloud's young body. Tentatively, he stepped closer, his large boots making small tapping sounds with each step. He continued to stare at the word in disbelief as memories raced through his mind's eye, sending an eerie feeling of familiarity up his spine.  
  
His gloved fingers traced over the lettering. "Jenova." He murmured.  
  
Jenova  
  
Traitor  
  
Ancients  
  
Death  
  
Flames  
  
A horrible pain raced through Cloud's brain, but he remained resilient, though he grimaced severly. Stepping closer, he peered into the portal of the dome. A female figure... headless... bloody. Cloud felt as though his mind was on fire, the pain pounded. "Jenova, Sephiroth's... So they've brought it here." Finally, the pain was too great, and he fell backwards, clawing at his temples.  
  
Mother  
  
Ancients  
  
Flames  
  
Tifa saw him fall and was at his side instantly. "Cloud! Be strong!"  
  
His blue eyes fluttered open, the pain subsiding a bit. "Did you see it?"  
  
Barett made a confused expression. "See what?" When Cloud feebly pointed to the portal, Barett took a cautious peek inside. "Fuck!" He swore, "Where's its fucking head?"  
  
Cloud groaned, the pains relenting more. Why was that thing here? The fire, so hot, searing his skin. The hole in his heart. The blood, the mayhem, the holes. He was so confused.  
  
"This doesn't matter now, Cloud." Barett helped the younger man to his feet. "Let's go."  
  
The young man stood, shakily, leaning on the bigger man for support. "Are you alright?" Tifa asked tentatively. Worry seemed evident on her face, but she didn't seem to understand the connection to Jenova Cloud had.  
  
"I-"he wanted to tell her, about the flames and the blood and Jenova, but something inside him prevented him from doing so. "I'm okay, let's go."  
  
She nodded, and followed after him, even though the worry was still evident on her face. The stairwell to the sixty-eighth floor was unlocked and the three of them had no trouble getting in. Hojo was staring at an identical glass tube, but in this one, Aeris sat, pressed against the far side.  
  
Instantly, Cloud's wide blade was in his hand."Aeris!" Cloud shouted, before he had time to think. Tifa and Barett flanked him, each ready to fight.  
  
"Oh," Hojo didn't seem very surprised. "Is that her name? Can I help you with something?"  
  
"We're taking Aeris back!" Cloud shouted, guesturing with his sword. The whole act made him look quite heroic.  
  
"Outsiders," He spat, as if the word itself tasted bad.  
  
"You shoulda noticed before," Barett chided mockingly.  
  
"There are so many frivolous things in this world." Hojo continued, not at all concerned with AVALANCHE standing behind him. "Are you going to kill me? I don't think you should. Who will operate all this machinery? You don't think very logically." Cloud snorted indignatly, he was right. "Now, bring in the specimen."  
  
A portal opened up in the middle of the tube, and the cat-beast from the lower floor was raised in. The feline whipped around and started thrashing its tail as Aeris stood and ran to the front closest to Cloud. Her muffled voice was barely audible. "Help me!"  
  
Cloud ran to the glass, and brought his sword crashing down upon it. The glass didn't break, and only a small white fracture line marred the surface. "What are you doing?" He demanded, whirling on Hojo.  
  
The scientist chuckled slightly. "Lending a hand to an endangered species. Both of them are on the brink of extinction. If I don't help, these animals will disappear."  
  
Tifa's face warped with disgust. "That's terrible, Aeris isn't an animal!"  
  
"Your gonna pay!" Barett shouted, he unleashed a spray of bullets onto the glass, causing Hojo to shriek in protest. A bright light flashed from the tube, as shattering glass shot outwards, tearing at skin and cloth . Cloud reached forward, and grabbed Aeris off the floor. Helping her stand, he stepped in front of her, looking threatening. Hojo was pulling himself off the floor, when the feline flung itself out of the cage and pinned the scientist to the floor with an audible thud. Black claws extended, the snarling cat bit into flesh as Hojo screamed in pain.  
  
The elevator in the tube began whirring, and a loud roar echoed up from the opening. The cat-like beast turned its head at the sound, ears pricked. Growling, the feline turned its attention to the whirring of the elevator. The frail man took this opportunity to escape. "Have fun fighting, you worthless peons. This one was created for combat!"  
  
The fur of the earthen beast bristled as it snarled. "This is not an ordinary speciment."  
  
They looked at him in disbelief. Tifa, after a good long moment, recovered from her initial shock enough to speak herself.. "It- you talked?"  
  
The cat looked to her with one intelligent eye, the other was sewn shut. "I can talk all you want later, Miss. Right now, I'll help you fight this monster, he's rather tough."  
  
As he finished is sentence, a mutated monster crawled out of the opening. Tifa was quick, and shot a blast of ice at the monster's left half, making it easy for Cloud to cleave into it. The lion like beast proved to be very useful in the fight, jumping right into the fray and tearing at the monster with claws and fangs. Aeris, was severly weakened by whatever draining experiences she had experienced in the laboratory, and was doing her best to keep up with the fight. It took all of the young woman's strength to heal her friends and now the red beast when they were hurt. More than once, someone had to jump in front of her to save her from an unfriendly blast of magic. The monster was strong, but against five people it was fighting a losing battle, and soon the threat was eliminated. Cloud took one last heavy swipe at the monster, causing it fall. The oversized cat leapt onto its back, sinking its white teeth into the mutant's neck and holding. The much larger beast wheezed and struggled for a moment before finally falling still.  
  
Cloud turned to the articulate cat. "Thank you. You were a great help."  
  
The feline looked up, releasing the beast and licking his chops. His cat- like features showed an expression of disgust, as if the mutant left a bad taste in his mouth. "No, thank you for freeing me. I have been imprisioned here for nearly month."  
  
Cloud normally would've shaken hands, but he looked at the beast's large clawed paws and realized it would be awkward. Settling for placing a hand on a furred shoulder, Cloud managed a weak smile. Turning to Aeris, he let himself be filled with relief. "Are you okay?"  
  
The pretty girl nodded, her chestnut hair, swayed with her. "Yes, I'm fine." She kneeled in front of the lion-beast, and smiled. "I'm sorry I was so afraid of you."  
  
"Quite alright." The cat nodded. "I'm sorry I frightened you. I was merely acting to throw Hojo off guard."  
  
Barett cocked his head. "What are you?"  
  
"An informed question, really, but difficult to answer." He licked one paw. "My kind have no name, I am simply what you see."  
  
Tifa also came closer. "So what's your name?"  
  
"Hojo named me RedXIII, but that name holds no meaning to me."  
  
Aeris put her hand on the back of the cat's neck, in a friendly guesture. "Is Red okay?"  
  
"Yes, that will do." He smiled slightly, his white fangs glinting under the florescent lighting. She scratched his nose lightly, and he remained silent for the sake of formality.  
  
"Now that we have Aeris, we don't need to be in this damn building." Barett noted, obviously pleased with the success of their mission.  
  
"Agreed." Aeris smiled in relief.  
  
As they made their way downstairs, Barett caught up to Aeris. "I wanted to thank you," he said as he followed Cloud and Tifa's lead down two more flights of stairs.  
  
Aeris looked at him, a childish expression of confusion written on her face. "For what? I don't recall ever even meeting you."  
  
"The name's Barett Wallace." He smiled lopsidedly. "You saved my daughter." She followed him around a corner, then suddenly wanted to slap herself for her ignorance. Big, dark-skinned, gunarm! "You're Marlene's father? That's right I saw you at the pillar!"  
  
He nodded. "Thanks." He said solemnly, "I lost almost everyone I ever knew yesterday, but you saved my daughter, I love her more than anything."  
  
Aeris looked at the large man, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, about your friends."  
  
"No." He shook his head. "They went down fightin', I know that they wouldn't regret it. If anythin' I should apologize to you. Because of me an' Marlene you got caught and involved in all 'dis."  
  
"Don't even!" She managed a small laugh. "I couldn't have done anything else. I'm sure you already know, but my name is Aeris. Aeris Gainsborough."  
  
At that moment, Cloud signaled everyone to follow him into the elevator. The space was limited, but they all managed to cram into it. The doors slid shut, and Cloud eagerly pressed the button that would take him to the first floor. Security probably already knew they were here, Hojo probably told them as he left the laboratory. The sooner they reached the bottom of the tower, the better.  
  
The elevator, slowed, and everyone held their breath as the doors slid open. No one was present, but for some reason, the doors would not close. Barett, being closest to the open doors, took a tentative peek outside. A figure in blue, from out of nowhere, tackled the big man. The two went down in a tumble, Barett swearing in surprise. The bald, blue-clad figure pulled a ragged cloth out of his suit jacket, and held it over Barett's nose and mouth. The bigger man knew it was chloroform, but it was already too late. The chemical had already permeated Barett's senses, as his dark eyes rolled back into his head and he lay still. Cloud and the others barreled out of the elevator, ready for battle.  
  
The bald man pulled a gun from a holster at his hip and fired, in one clean motion. The loud sound made everyone wince, but Red, behind them, howled in pain. They turned to see him, stumble and collapse, as a large bloody wound grew on his shoulder, a tranqulizing dart protruding from the injury. In the instant they were distracted, a second figure attacked. He was also clad in a blue suit, but he had long black hair that fell across his shoulders like a waterfall of oil. It was Tseng, the man who had captured Aeris at the pillar. He didn't waste a split second and raced into battle. Tifa, who was closest to him, engaged him in hand to hand combat, while the bald one fired again at Cloud. The bullet missed, and they both charged each other.  
  
Red, only barely conscious, used his last bit of strength to throw himself at Tseng, who yelped in surprise. Tifa took the opportunity to land several well placed kicks to the stomach and groin. Tseng's gloved hand shot out and grabbed her ankle, knocking her off balance and sending her to the ground as he pushed the now unconscious feline off him. When Tifa looked up, Tseng was staring down at her, with a black handgun trained at her chest. With the agility and speed of a true martial artist, her booted foot shot upwards and made contact with the Turk's hand. He swore, and pulled the trigger, sending a stray bullet into the far wall, but the opening was all Tifa needed. She leapt to her feet and threw all her weight into her punches. Right, left, block, left grab, right. She fought almost on autopilot, feeling an eerie detatchment to her own body as she swung her fists at the man's chest, stomach, and face. He stumbled backwards, and the distance was too great for Tifa's arms, but she remedied the situation using her feet. She kicked with her right, then brought it back in, and hit him across the face again. Suprisingly, Tseng was not only totally conscious, but he suddenly went on the offensive, something Tifa was not prepared for.  
  
He swung with a powerful right, catching the young woman directly in the jaw, sending her back to the ground. Tifa grimaced, blinking back tears of pain. Her jaw felt like it was on fire, but she returned to her feet, only to be punched in the stomach. She felt like retching, but could only manage to gasp and cough, splattering blood on the sterile tile floor. Tseng brutally grabbed a handful of hair on the side of her head and flung her with all of his strength into the wall behind him. Her skull rocked against the hard surface, splitting open the skin on the side of her face. Her head was swimming as she faltered and fell to the ground. She vaguely heard Cloud and Aeris shout her name, but passed out as Tseng's foot impacted with her stomach.  
  
Cloud had been shot three times, and each time Aeris had screamed. They were non-vital places, his shoulder had been hit twice, and the side of his face had been grazed, letting blood drip down the side of his cheek. Another gunshot had made him turn, to see Tifa wailing on Tseng. The other Turk also stopped, debating whether or not his boss needed help. Cloud and the other Turk both watched, absorbed in the other fight to do much to each other. Tifa switched from her hands to her feet and landed two particularly painful looking kicks to Tseng's face. Suddenly, Tseng swung with a right hook that threw Tifa to the ground as she cried out in pain and surprise. Cloud started to rush forward, infuriated that a man would do that to Tifa, but the bald Turk tackled him. Cloud, through instant-long pauses in the fight could see Tifa getting punched in the stomach. The sight of her own blood dripping down her face drove Cloud to a rage, he kicked the bald man off him, and swung his fists in a fury, landing several. He turned just in time to see Tifa thrown into the wall and fall to the ground. "Tifa!" He shouted, worried. Behind him Aeris shouted the same thing.  
  
Aeris' shout of worry morphed into her own cry for help as the bald turk advanced on her. "Cloud!!" He whirled, only to watch as Aeris, very much unarmed, raised her hand to slap the advancing threat. He easily caught her slim wrist and jerked her closer. His knee shot up and met with the petite woman's torso, knocking the wind out of her. She collapsed to the ground, even as Cloud bolted to help her. His sword bit into the bald man's shoulder, but he only grunted in pain. Now, only seeing through a burning red haze, Cloud was continuing to pummel the Turk even as Tseng approached him, and pistol whipped the young man. Cloud fell to his knees after being hit in the temple. He fell to the floor, and passed out.  
  
An unknown amount of time later, Cloud was aware of someone shoving him to his feet. He stumbled and tried to step, but something heavy around his ankles prevented him from doing so. He fell to the ground, and opened his eyes. The bald turk was standing over him, his dark glasses masking his eyes.  
  
"Get up."  
  
Cloud didn't have much of a choice and did so with some of the Turks assistance. He realized with dismay, that his hands and feet were bound in shackles, and his sword and materia were missing. The bald man lead him around a corner where Cloud was relieved to see AVALANCHE. They were all chained together, like felons, but they were very much okay.  
  
"Cloud!" Tifa and Barett shouted at once. Barett looked relatively unharmed, but his gunarm had been removed, leaving only the unamputated portion of his arm and a silver disk that the gun attached to. Red, at his feet, looked unscathed for the most part, except for the deep cut he had suffered from the dart.  
  
Tifa looked bruised and battered, causing a memory of Cloud's own mother to resurface. Before his parents had split, his father had beaten his mother often. She smiled at him, through the traces of a black eye. Her jaw had a huge purple bruise on the right side of her face, and there was a long gash on the other side, caked with dried blood. Her bare midriff also showed a few large bruises.  
  
"Tifa! Are you okay!?" He struggled against the Turk, who simply pushed him to the floor.  
  
Unable to go to him, Tifa only smiled kindly, her eyes shimmered with tears of helplessness. "I'm okay. But Aeris is missing."  
  
Cloud, being dragged to his feet once again, wheeled precariously to face the Turk. "What have you done with Aeris?" he shouted.  
  
He was answered with a rough backhand as Tseng entered the room. "Rude, bring that last one out, we don't have time to attach him to the others."  
  
"Sir." Rude nodded, and roughly dragged Cloud behind him as Tseng led Barett, Tifa, and Red out of the room. After walking a flight of stairs, they came to the top floor of the ShinRa Tower. An extravagant desk took up most of the space in the large room, framed by huge windows, giving a vast view of the desolate city below. The sun, in the western sky was beginning to set. Cloud frowned. He had been unconscious for a long time.  
  
A large man walked out of a door on the right, and seated himself at the single chair behind the desk. Cloud recognized him as President ShinRa. "You greedy bastard!" Cloud spat, winning a grin from Barett. "What have you done with Aeris!?"  
  
"She's safe." He lit a cigar. "She's an Ancient, you know."  
  
"So I've heard." Cloud growled.  
  
"Yes, she's the last surviving one." Cloud raised a blonde eyebrow. "They lived thousands of years ago, and they called themselves the Cetra."  
  
Red looked up with his intelligent eye, disbelief clearly registering on his face. "She's a survivor of the Cetra?"  
  
The overweight man nodded. "Yes. The Cetra will show us to the Promised Land. You can see that I'm expecting a lot out of her."  
  
"That is a simple legend. You are a fool." The cat scoffed.  
  
"Perhaps," the president admitted. "But it's too good to pass up. It has been said that the Promised Land is very fertile, and if the ground is fertile-"  
  
"Then there's gotta be Mako!" Barett shouted, finished the president's thoughts for him.  
  
"Exactly!" ShinRa exclaimed. "In the Promised Land, a money-sucking reactor won't be necessary. The mako will flow out on its own. That's where we're building Neo-Midgar. The ShinRa's new glory-"  
  
"Fucker!" Barett bellowed. "Quit dreamin'!"  
  
"Don't you know?" The president seemed annoyed suddenly. "All it takes for your dreams to be realized is money and science." He waved a dismissive hand. "That's all for our meeting."  
  
Rude and Tseng walked back into the office and began to drag the rebels back to holding cells. "No way!" Barett struggled violently, nearly knocking over Tifa and Red as he yanked on the chains. "I still got a lot I wanna say to you." Rude jerked on the chains, and dragged Barett and the others down the stairs, Barett swearing and cursing enough to make a sailor blush.  
  
"If you want anything else, speak to my secretary." 


	11. Chapter 10: Complications

Tifa was shoved roughly into the jail cell, stumbling forward at the sudden push. Cloud, his arms still restrained, turned and stood chest to chest with Rude, glowering. As far as intimidating the Turk, Cloud failed miserably. As stoic as ever, Rude simply shoved him into the cell as well.  
  
"Are you okay?" Tifa bent over him and helped him sit on the one cot, since her own hands had not been restrained.  
  
He sighed, heavily, and nodded. She helped him untie the small swatch of rope that bound his wrists together. "Yeah. What about you?" He reached out his gloved hand and carefully touched Tifa's jaw, so he could see the bruise better. He was surprised by his own boldness, but refused to listen to the self-loathing part of himself at the moment. She winced slightly, but still managed to smile slightly.  
  
"I'm okay, its just a bruise."  
  
"Tifa, I'm sorry." He removed his hand, and looked up to her, unable to keep himself from turning red. "This is all my fault."  
  
She sat next to him. "Cloud, this is not your fault." She put a supportive hand around his shoulders and hugged him slightly. "Me and Barett both came on our own free will. Aeris too. She followed us to Sector 7 by her own choice."  
  
He sighed again, sounding burdened. "I know. I just... I can't believe I let you got injured like that. What kind of man hits a woman so brutally?"  
  
"He's a Turk, Cloud. What do you expect?"  
  
His head whipped around at her, his wild hair swaying with the movement. She looked at him, surprised. He looked very upset as he put his larger hand over the one resting in her lap. "I expected that they had some professional honor, and wouldn't beat the crap out of a woman."  
  
"To them, I just as big of a threat as you or Barett." She shook her head, still smirking slightly. "Not that I forgive Tseng or anything. Or Reno, now that I think about it." She laughed quietly, mostly to herself. "I'm not having good luck with those damn Turks, am I?"  
  
Cloud could repress a smile. Although his nervousness gripped him inside and out, he boldly moved a bit closer to her. "Tifa, can I hug you?"  
  
She smiled, her firey amber eyes warming. "Of course. You're my best friend, you always have my permission to hug me, stupid!" She laughed slightly, leaning into the hug.  
  
His heart was racing and his stomach was doing acrobatics, but he felt better. The guilt and the shame of being captured seemed to vanish, replaced by boyish giddiness and a warm red glow to his cheeks. He didn't know, but Tifa's face had also grown red, and her own fears and doubts were silenced in the embrace of a man she hoped would someday be more than her friend.  
  
They broke apart, and Cloud climbed to his feet and seated himself against the wall facing the cot. "Try and rest a bit, we don't know what will happen next." She nodded a laid down on her back, staring at the nondescript celing.  
  
Sometime later, a converstion had started up again between the two. "Do you think we can get out?"  
  
"I'm not sure." He went over to the door and examined the workings. Although the door seemed basically hopeless, he did discover a ventilation shaft that opened into the next cell. Taking a closer look, he couldn't see anything, but he could distinctly hear Barett's rumbling baritone, and the occasional soft-spoken Red.  
  
"Okay, lemme see if I understand, Red." Barett was saying. "Aeris is an Ancient, and the real name of the Ancients is the Cetra."  
  
"Right."  
  
"The Ancients know about a legendary Promised Land and the ShinRa wants it for all 'da mako."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"So then if the ShinRa get there, they'll suck up all the mako, and injure the Planet more."  
  
"Yes, that's right."  
  
"Goddammit" He shouted suddenly. "I'm recruiting more damn members."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"Oh! That's right! I'm the leader of an anti-ShinRa rebellion group." He exclaimed proudly. "It was me an Tifa, and three others. Yesterday in the plate crash, we lost our three friends. And about a week ago, we hired Cloud as a mercenary, 'cause Tifa knew him. When we free Aeris, I think she'll join, too!"  
  
Barett sounded more like a seven year old than the thirty five year old adult that he was, when he spoke about AVALANCHE. He seemed to be a little boy talking about his secret club than a well-known public terrorist bent on bringing down the world's tyrannical government. "What about you, Red?" He asked, excited. "You wanna join AVALANCHE and kick some ShinRa ass?"  
  
"We will see." Red affirmed, sounding like a school teacher, as he punctuated his sentence with a yawn.  
  
"Yer' so damned boring." Barett whined.  
  
"Shut up." Red snapped, in his first display of annoyance. "I miss my grandfather."  
  
"Yer granddad?" Barett barely stifled a laugh.  
  
"Hey!" Cloud called through the vent finally. "Barett! Red!"  
  
"Cloud?" The both answered in unison.  
  
"Yeah, Tifa's with me, and we're both okay." He talked a bit quieter as he thought he heard footsteps outside the door. "Is Aeris with you?"  
  
"No." Barett sounded disappointed.  
  
"I'm over here!"  
  
"Aeris?" All four prisoners called at once.  
  
Cloud wheeled and saw another identical vent on the opposite wall. Trotting over to it he called her name again.  
  
"Yes!" She sounded as though she was smiling in relief.  
  
"Are you safe?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Her soft voice echoed slightly in the metallic ventilation duct. "I knew you'd come for me."  
  
Cloud could managed a cocky grin, though it was only ghost of the one he had used only a few days prior. "Hey, I'm your bodyguard, remember?"  
  
"The deal was for one date, right?"  
  
Cloud and Tifa both turned red, but for different reasons. "Oh, I see how it is." She muttered, morosely.  
  
"Tifa?!" Aeris sounded shocked, and Cloud was willing to bet money that she was red too.  
  
Tifa avoided the subject entirely, focusing more on the large predicament they found themselves in. "Aeris, I've wanted to ask you, does the Promised Land really exist?"  
  
"I don't know, Tifa. All I know is that the Cetra are born to the Planet, they speak with the Planet, and they unlock the Planet. Then, the Cetra will return to the Promised Land, a place of supreme happiness. "  
  
Tifa cocked her head. "What does that mean?"  
  
"Other than words," Aeris sighed. "I don't know."  
  
"Speak with the Planet?" Cloud questioned.  
  
"Just what does the Planet say?" Tifa added.  
  
Aeris could be heard shuffling about through the vent. "It's full of people and noisy, and I can't understand what they're trying to say."  
  
Cloud was suddenly very interested. The Ancients. There was something huge just underneath the surface, but he couldn't distinguish what. "Do you hear it now?"  
  
"I only head it at the church in the slums. Mother said it was because Midgar was losing its connection to the Planet. My real mother, anyway." The springs on her cot creaked audibly as she sat down. "Someday, I'll get out of Midgar and speak with the Planet, and find my own Promised Land. Mom said that a lot. I thought I would stop hearing all the voices as I grew up, but it never stopped."  
  
Cloud, for fear she may start crying, said softly, "Let's try to rest, guys. We may need the extra energy."  
  
~~~~  
  
Cloud was startled awake several hours later. He wasn't sure if it was a noise, or the dream he had been having. He groggily saw Tifa, sleeping, and looked around the cell. The nondescript walls and ceiling were bare and cold, and offered no suggestions for escape. The door, as he turned his head, was also completely devoid of any discoverable weakness. His blue eyes widened.  
  
The door was open.  
  
He shot to his feet and tentatively looked outside, no one was anywhere to be seen. "Tifa!" She stirred. "Tifa, wake up!"  
  
"W-what is it?"  
  
"The door's open!"  
  
She was suddenly very much awake. Hopping off the bed, she followed him into the hallway. A guard, in a signature red uniform was laying, slumped in a pool of blood, a deep slash across his torso. A look of fear and shock was frozen on his face.  
  
"I wonder what happened." Tifa breathed, seemingly afraid to get too close to the corpse.  
  
Cloud shrugged, confusion evident on his face. "I don't have a clue, but he should have a key card on him." He rifled through the man's pockets, and produced the small card. "Tifa, see if you can't find our weapons around here. I'll go get Barett and the others."  
  
She nodded, and turned the corner, and Cloud quickly opened the cell containing Barett and Red. "Barett! Get up!"  
  
The bigger man's snoring ceased, as he groggily opened his eyes. "What the- "His eyes widened, and Red began to wake up as well. "How the hell did you get in? Why's the door open?"  
  
"Come with me," He motioned for them to follow as he left the cell. Red followed first, with barett close behind. As soon as Cloud had finished freeing and informing Aeris, Tifa came around the corner, weapons in tow.  
  
Barett happily took his gun from under her arm, and bolted it back into place. Cloud also relieved her from his sword that the had dragged down the hall. Tifa herself slipped on her fighting knuckles, and slid some materia into the slots. Cloud and Aeris also decided to divvy up some materia between them, and Red claimed the remaining fire and poison materias.  
  
Red sniffed the air. "Something is terribly wrong. Follow me, I'll lead the way."  
  
They nodded, and fell in line behind the large cat. As they made it out of the detention area, Red paused again. "I think we are on the same floor as Hojo's lab. But be careful, I smell blood, and lots of it." He stood up on his hind legs, and pressed the open button on the door with a furry paw, and the entry slid open.  
  
It was Hojo's lab, the cat had been right. Bloodstains marred the floor, ceiling, and the walls. "What the hell?" Barett was never able to keep quiet for long.  
  
"No human could have done this," Red growled, sniffing the air for more danger.  
  
"Oh Gods."  
  
Everyone looked to Cloud, who stood petrified, with an absolute look of fear in his shimmering eyes. They followed his stare to a dome in the corner. Where there was one, presumably, a door, there was now a gaping hole. The steel of the doorframe had been warped and curled outward, blood splatter partially hiding the text over the door. "Oh Gods," Cloud repeated. "Did it get away? Jenova?" Tifa had no idea what it meant, nor did anyone else present.  
  
Red only knew of the monster's name. "It looks like it went up the specimen elevator." They followed Jenova's supposed path up two more stories, dead bodies left an easy-to-follow path. Aeris seemed quite disturbed from all the blood and corpses, but Barett was nearby and watching her carefully, just in case she needed some comfort. After a few floors, there were less bodies, but the clear trail of crimson stains was also a giveaway.  
  
They followed the blood all the way up to President ShinRa's office. Where they found him, slumped over his desk. A huge sword stuck out of his back, it rested through his torso, and stabbed a small way into the ground. Tifa and Cloud both paled after a moment.  
  
"He's dead!?" Barett exclaimed, obviously wishing it was he who completed the act. "The leader of the ShinRa is dead?"  
  
"That sword is-"Tifa started, seemingly on the verge of tears.  
  
"Sephiroth." Cloud finished, fear and terror drowning his voice.  
  
Tifa held her hand over her heart, very much at ill ease. "Sephiroth is alive?"  
  
"Yes," Cloud nodded, acknowledging his greatest fear. "He's the only one who can handle that sword. The Masamune"  
  
Barett couldn't understand what they were so afraid of. "Who the hell cares who did it! President ShinRa is dead!" Cloud and Tifa both jumped visibly, when a short, fat, bald man in a suit shot out of the shadows and made a break for the door.  
  
Cloud recovered quickly, though, and with Barett's help, restrained the man. "Please!" He begged. "Don't kill me!" It was Palmer.  
  
"What happened?" Cloud prompted.  
  
"I saw him! General Sephiroth!" Palmer babbled, frightened like a small rabbit.  
  
"Sephiroth was really here?" Tifa exclaimed, her eyebrows knit with fear.  
  
Palmer stopped struggling. "Yeah! I saw him with my own eyes."  
  
"You really saw him?" Cloud prompted again. "Don't toy with me."  
  
"Would I lie to you at a time like this?" The older man shouted, obviously shaken up. "And I heard his voice, too! He was saying something about not letting us have the Promised Land!"  
  
"Then what?" Tifa put in cautiously. "Does that mean that there really is a Promised Land." She cast a sideways glance at Aeris. "And that Sephiroth wants to save it from the ShinRa?"  
  
"So he's a good guy, 'den?" Barett scratched his bearded chin.  
  
"Hell no!" Cloud shouted, enraged at something. "It can't be that simple. I know him, his mission must be different!"  
  
They were interrupted by the sounds of a helicopter. They all whirled, to see a ShinRa helicopter hover outside the balcony beyond the expansive windows. Palmer jerked his arms and was able to break away from his momentary captors. He raced outside with suprising speed for a man of his girth, Barett and Cloud released him.  
  
The dark-skinned man caught a glimpse of a figure in white moving about in the helicopter. "Rufus! Fuck! I forgot about him!"  
  
"Who the hell is Rufus?" Tifa shouted over the helicopter, annoyed at all the revelations and complications that seemed to happen in the past three days.  
  
"Vice President Rufus!" Barett yelled, checking his gun. "He's the presiden't brat!"  
  
Aeris furrowed her eyebrows, still taking in all the revealed plans for the Promised Land. "I heard that no one has ever seen him cry."  
  
"Yeah, I heard that too." Barett nodded. "He's been assigned somewhere else for a long time."  
  
Cloud gripped his sword and ran outside to the balcony, where Palmer had fled too moments before. They raced outside, four pairs of booted feet causing pounding footfalls, and two pairs of paws only causing soft thuds.  
  
As Cloud kicked open the door, they were meet with a blast of cold wind, disturbed by the blades of the chopper. As they ran across the balcony, they caught a glimpse of Palmer leaning out of the chopper, speaking to the figure in white as he was preparing to climb in.  
  
"So Sephiroth was actually here?" The man in white yelled over the helicopter. He turned at the sound of the door and saw his father's five prisoners confront him, weapons drawn. "Who the hell are you?"  
  
"AVALANCHE, an' don't you forget it!" Barett bellowed, happy to throw his success into the young man's face.  
  
Rufus' cerulean eyes narrowed dangerously, his firey orange hair blowing in the breeze. "You've come to prevent me from leaving? Or perhaps to fight?" His voice was still young, and he barely looked older than nineteen. "You know me, don't you? I'm President Rufus of ShinRa Inc."  
  
"Yer' only President 'cause yer old man died!" Barett's speech started to become less enunciated, which it always did when he was worked up about something or other.  
  
Rufus leaned casually against the balcony rail, running a hand through his short hair. "You're right, I'll even let you hear my new appointment speech." He stood up straight, and walked slowly towards Tifa. For the first time, they noticed a long shotgun strapped to his body, he made no move for it, nor did he even seem very hostile.  
  
"Father tried to control the world with money," He looked Tifa over momentarily, causing Cloud and Red to step closer to her. Unperturbed, Rufus wandered towards Aeris, "The populace thought that the ShinRa would protect them." Barett took a threatening step closer, but again, Rufus dismissed the threat. "Work for the ShinRa, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the ShinRa army will help you. It all seemed perfect from the outside. Father was stupid, though, there were many flaws in his plan. I will do things differently. I will control the world with fear. There were too many factors and conditions in the way my old man did it." He moved back to the railing, smoothing his white business suit carefully, while continueing. "A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."  
  
Tifa crossed her arms, disgusted. "He makes speeches just like his lying father."  
  
Cloud, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly stepped in front his comrades. "Get Aeris out of here."  
  
"What?" Barett and Tifa asked simotaneously.  
  
"Get her out, now!" He looked over his shoulder at them. "The real crisis is with the Planet!"  
  
"The hell are you talkin' 'bout?"  
  
"Just do it!" Cloud was getting frustraded, and it showed in the urgency reflected in his glowing blue eyes. "I'll follow you after I take care of him!"  
  
Barett nodded, and with a hand on Aeris' petite shoulder, he ran back to the office, Tifa and Red trailing him. They ran through the office, and back down the stairs. "If we find anymore goddamned Turks, I'm going to be angry!" Tifa called from the rear of the group. Barett grinned back at her. "Don' worry! 'Dis time I'm gonna kick their skinny asses!"  
  
Aeris halted in her tracks, as they passed through a doorway. "No, stop!" They did so and looked at her, somewhat confused. "Someone has to stay for Cloud, what if he gets hurt and can't make it downstairs?"  
  
Tifa nodded, the exiliration of impending battle giving her energy. "I'll stay, you go on ahead!"  
  
The remaining three nodded in unison, and raced off down the hallway. Nearly breaking down the doors to the stairway, Barett burst in and began leaping down the stairs, Aeris fearfully in tow. Red was agile and fast and quickly made faster progress then the bigger man. He wheeled to go down another flight, out of Barett's sight. All of a sudden, the red-furred cat was visible again, but running back up the stairs, the way they came. "Turn around, Barett!" He called. "There's some kind of security-"  
  
He didn't have time to finish his sentence. As he spoke, his last few words were drown out by the mechanical hum of a huge robotic defense system. Wasting not a second, both Barett and the machine opened fire on each other. Aeris fell to the hard floor as Barett dropped his support on her. Wincing, she stood and fled back up the stairs to put some more distance between herself and the monster. Concentrating momentarily, she blasted the menace with a bolt of lightning. Circuts flashed and smoke poured out of several openings. Red shot his own magic at the robot, bits and chunks of metal flying into the air. Barett, now very angry, shot a straight blast of energy into the machine's chest. The circuits sparked and wires flew out, exploding the chest and sending bits of steel into the walls.  
  
~~~~  
  
Cloud and Rufus had a bit of a staring competition before either of them spoke. The tension was thick, and both seemed unafraid of the inevitable battle. Rufus' dark blue eyes bore coldly into Cloud's own, mako-infused irises. "Why do you want to fight me?" The young president asked, deceit laced his smooth voice.  
  
"You seek the Promised Land, and Sephiroth." Cloud growled, without hesitation.  
  
Rufus smirked. "Yes, exactly." He seemed to ponder a minute. "Sephiroth is an Ancient, you know."  
  
"A lot has happened," Cloud spat, anything pertaining to Sephiroth made him angry. "But I can't let you get him or the Promised Land."  
  
"A shame, really." Rufus purred. "I suppose this means we won't be friends."  
  
Cloud charged forward, sword held high. "No!" the sword met steel, as Rufus blocked the vertical cut with the barrel of his shotgun. "I suppose not!"  
  
The ex-SOLDIER leapt backwards and fell into an offensive position. With his left foot forward, the tip of the silver weapon rested upon the ground. The fire-haired president loaded two slugs into the barrel of the gun. Raising his arm, the chamber clicked into place and he aimed. Cloud shot forward, right foot coming upwards, and the sword tip swinging out.  
  
Rufus fired, but Cloud's mako-induced speed was too much. The bullets missed, and the heavy sword swung and made contact with the young man's abdomen. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted in pain. He brought the end of his shotgun up at suprising speed, catching Cloud firmly in the jaw. The impact exploded into his face, as he fell backwards.  
  
Now freely bleeding, Cloud charged forward again, unwilling to give Rufus and second chance to reload. The swordsman executed furious swipe after swipe, and the prim and proper businessman could barely keep up. Although Rufus was experienced, he wasn't quite as experienced as Cloud was. Rufus was loosing more and more ground, until he had been backed up against the bay windows. Cloud hefted his sword, intending to decapitate the young president. Rufus realized this, but quickly, he flipped out a small knife and slammed it into Cloud's unprotected chest.  
  
The ex-SOLDIER howled in pain, stepping backwards, gripping his bloodied chest. After a silent moment, Cloud was satisfied that the wound wasn't fatal. He held out an outstretched palm, and a burst of fire burned to life. Realizing he intended to shoot it at him, Rufus quickly closed the gap between them. The blonde swordsman was unprepared for this action and was punished with a punch to his stomach and a knee in his face. Recovering quickly, Cloud swung his burning fist and caught the young ShinRa across his cheek, searing the skin.  
  
Rufus shrieked in agony, as his hand shot upwards, clutching his now blistered face. "You bastard!" he snarled. "I'll kill you for that!"  
  
Cloud smirked sadistically, renewing his dangerous demeanor. "Try it, brat."  
  
The two rushed into close battle, shouting taunts and curses at each other. Largely, magic was avoided, the two men wanted to prove better than the other on their own strength alone. Gunshots echoed in the damp air, the wind was carrying the scent of rain.  
  
"Hiding behind a sword?" Rufus spat, blood dripping from his lower lip. "You coward!"  
  
Cloud dodged a sharp swipe from the small bloody knife. "You suck with a knife! Better stick to daddy's guns."  
  
Rufus raised his shotgun, "Fine!"  
  
The blast echoed, followed by an audible grunt. "Dammit!" The first drops of rain fell, gaining more and more in speed and size. Cloud had a gaping wound in his right thigh, blood pulsated out of it. Sword-fighting would be near impossible now, he admitted. His right hand burst to life with fire, again. The rain was coming down harder now, soaking both men to the bone.  
  
Rufus, all to wary of the biting flame, stood, several feet from the seething, bleeding Cloud. The ex-SOLDIER, wounded badly, wondered what the next plan of action would be. His problem was solved as the chopper began to hover close to Rufus. Catching wind of the pilot's idea, and secretly thankful for the excuse to run, the young president made a break for the helicopter's landing support. Clinging to his shotgun with one hand, and to the runner in the other, Rufus fired one last shot at Cloud as the chopper began to gain altitude. Though wounded, Cloud was still able to dodge. He watched in contempt as the young man was pulled inside the body of the helicopter.  
  
"Son of a bitch." Cloud spat, blood spattering the ground. 


	12. Author's Intermission I

Hello again, all!  
  
Tsume Ryu again. I thought it might be a good idea to do an author's intermission every ten chapters or so. Before I revamped it, someone had left a comment on the length of my chapters. Are you happy? I made them longer! Instead of running about three pages, they now run about eight. Chapter ten was almost eleven, too! I promise this will be far, FAR less linear once I get Strife and the others out of Midgar, that way I can play around with the dialogue more.  
  
Does anyone have any suggestions? Anyone? Ideas for additional scenes? I have a good few in mind, but I am willing to take suggestions.  
  
I hope more people read this, comments are great, but I don't really care if I get any. If you are reading this, though, let me know. I want to see whose read my stuff.  
  
As far as actual commentary goes: I liked writing the scene with Tseng and Tifa fighting, I had a lot of fun. Some of the fights are really easy to get into, and its no difficult matter making them intense. I also liked writing Rufus and Cloud fighting. Whee! Bloody bishies! Anyway, Red isn't easy to write, and Hojo was much more difficult that I though.  
  
I'm thinking about doing a fic about how Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge met, as well as an origin fic for all the Turks. Hmmmm....  
  
As always, I encourage you to email me. I want artist friends, if you like doing fanart, drop me a ling.  
  
Momo_the_mighty@yahoo.com  
  
Thanks again, and keep reading. 


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